Office address: 1285 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019
Website: ubs.com/us
Year established: 1862
Company type: financial services
Employees: 110,300+
Expertise: wealth management, investment banking, asset management, retirement planning, alternative investments, sustainable investing, corporate solutions, financial planning, risk management, capital markets
Parent company: UBS Group AG (Switzerland)
Key people: Sergio Ermotti (group CEO); Robert Karofsky, George Athanasopoulos, and Marco Valla (co-presidents); Aleksandar Ivanovic (president); Mike Dargan (group chief operations and technology officer); Todd Tuckner (group CFO)
Financing status: corporation
UBS is a leading global bank that specializes in serving high-net-worth clients and institutions. The company manages $6.6 trillion in invested assets and offers tailored financial advice and solutions to individuals, families, and institutions. Its US operations are headquartered in New York.
UBS traces its beginnings to 1862 in Switzerland, when Bank in Winterthur was created to help local business and manage a warehouse. Fifty years later, a merger with Toggenburger Bank formed Union Bank of Switzerland, which quickly grew its network and services across the country.
Swiss Bank Corporation, known as SBC, formed from several mergers in the late 1800s and soon set its sights beyond Switzerland. By 1898, SBC had opened a branch in London, showing its global ambitions.
Both Union Bank of Switzerland and SBC embraced new technology, such as adding machines and early computers. They also opened offices in major financial centers like New York, Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro.
A turning point came in 1998, when Union Bank of Switzerland and SBC joined forces to create UBS. This merger brought together expertise in various areas which made UBS one of the world’s largest financial institutions.
In 2000, the company entered the US market in a big way by acquiring PaineWebber, an American brokerage and asset manager. This gave the firm a strong presence in New York and across the country.
The company continued to grow, even through financial crises, and expanded its digital banking services worldwide. In 2023, it acquired Credit Suisse which strengthened its role as Switzerland’s largest universal bank.
By 2025, UBS increased checks on client money sources in Asia after a money-laundering scandal. The firm worked with Deloitte and KPMG and closed thousands of smaller accounts.
The firm combines deep market knowledge with access to both traditional and alternative investments. UBS's investment offerings include:
UBS is also known for its strong digital platforms and global network. Clients benefit from disciplined risk management and a wide selection of investment choices.
UBS states that its culture is the foundation for how the company works and adapts to change. The firm’s “three keys” represent the main values and guide daily actions:
UBS aims to create a supportive and flexible work environment for all employees. According to the company, its benefits are designed to help staff balance work and personal life:
UBS also offers regional programs to help employees manage work and family commitments. The company reports that it provides benefits that often go beyond legal requirements.
Sergio P. Ermotti serves as group CEO of UBS Group AG and has been leading the executive board since 2023. Before this, Ermotti led the company from 2011 to 2020 and served as chair at Swiss Re. He also held senior roles at UniCredit Group and Merrill Lynch. He completed advanced management training at the University of Oxford.
The UBS Group Executive Board leads the company’s global operations and oversees key business areas:
UBS Group AG uses a dual board structure as required by Swiss law. The board of directors delegates business management to the executive board.
In 2025, UBS experts shared practical strategies for family wealth conversations, focusing on values, legacy, and open communication. Judy Spalthoff and Libby Stantial explained how purposeful dialogue and programs like Emerging Successors help families prepare future inheritors. Their advice supports clients in building trust and guiding responsible wealth transitions across generations.
UBS leaders like Adrian Zuercher have also highlighted how new clients, especially younger generations and women, are driving demand for ESG and sustainable solutions. The company sees this shift as a sign that stewardship and responsible investing will play a bigger role in its future, as clients look for more return drivers and long-term value.
The removal of uncertainty regarding Congress's financial reform bill may reinforce the employment rebound as some bankers are being offered guaranteed bonuses.
Watches, chocolate, cheese. Switzerland is famous for quality on all three, but perhaps more attention should also be paid to the many high-quality, blue-chip, large-cap companies which are based there, such as Novartis, Roche, and Nestle.
The Department of Labor's unprecedented move to ask if 401(k) plan advice models should favor passively managed funds over actively managed ones has advisers alarmed that the choice of funds they can recommend to clients will be restricted.
Almost forty years after the U.S. officially abandoned the gold standard and its $35-an-ounce peg, the price of spot gold on Friday reached $1258 an ounce, another record, on Friday.
Group of 20 finance chiefs signaled they will delay introducing new rules aimed at forcing banks to raise the quality and quantity of capital they hold to buffer against financial crisis.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority were accused of being liable for losses in a Luxembourg fund tied to New York money manager Bernard Madoff.
Investors seeking the safety of government-insured certificates of deposit and a chance to profit from market rallies may end up earning nothing and owing taxes for their efforts.
As competition intensifies to capture the 401(k) and other retirement plan business of small and midsize companies, wirehouses increasingly are allowing representatives who specialize in the niche to act as fiduciaries.
For three years, the Justice Department has been probing a purported massive conspiracy in the muni bond market. An inside look at the government's investigation reveals how banks, traders, advisers and brokers allegedly cheated towns and taxpayers out of billions of dollars.
They're not “outright bearish,” but strategists at UBS AG's Wealth Management Americas unit are recommending a more cautious allocation of client assets
Big brokerage firms appear to have taken a break from their costly musical-chairs game of broker recruitment, according to executives and headhunters.
Firms see biggest one-month loss since Lehman went bust, as bets aimed at minimizing losses didn't. The question now: What will June bring?
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, UBS AG and five other banks were subpoenaed by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo over whether they misled rating agencies about mortgage-backed securities, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
Revelations about the firms' shadier practices incensed both politicians and the public. Don't count on any indictments being handed out, however
UBS Wealth Management Americas, the profit-starved U.S. retail-brokerage unit of UBS AG, will rebuild its reputation and revenue by marketing the advisory strength of its brokers and minting better products for wealthy investors, its new chief executive told brokers last week in outlining his strategy for the firm.
