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.
An investor has filed a class action against Prudential Financial Inc. and a slate of its executives, alleging that the insurer violated federal securities laws in a June 2008 public offering of junior subordinated notes.
The Swiss government says it will cooperate on cases of international tax evasion, breaking with a long-standing tradition.
Stifel Financial Corp. said Monday it plans to buy back all auction rate securities held by its retail investors, who bought them prior to the collapse of the ARS market in February 2008.
UBS AG official on Wednesday will face questions from a Senate panel for the first time since the bank acknowledged helping tens of thousands of American clients hide assets from the U.S. government.
In the most direct evidence yet tying UBS Chairman Peter Kurer to oversight failures at the Swiss bank, the U.S. Justice Department last month criticized as inadequate an internal investigation that he supervised.
Fears of increased paperwork and disclosures related to Finra's variable annuity suitability rule have been realized, with many firms reporting that they are still overburdened by hair-splitting requirements.
Oswald Grubel, the new chief executive of beleaguered UBS AG will likely will take a “fresh, hard look” at the Swiss banking giant’s retail-brokerage business.
The irony is powerful: Just as client demand for quality advice is reaching an all-time high, the business models that support the selling of advice have never looked worse.
Commentators in Switzerland voiced their anger at the bank's business practices and what they saw as heavy-handed treatment by U.S. authorities.
UBS AG will pay $780 million in fines, interest and restitution to avoid U.S. prosecution on charges that it helped wealthy Americans evade taxes.
The U.S. sued UBS AG today in an effort to get the Swiss bank to turn over the names of as many as 52,000 wealthy Americans who allegedly tried to evade taxes.
After posting another massive loss today, the Swiss bank UBS AG said it will reorganize its wealth management businesses.
Three former brokers, who were first with UBS Financial Services Inc. and then with Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., have been barred from working in New Jersey.
With AIG shedding a number of its businesses to pay back government loans, its money management unit — which runs more than $111 billion in global assets for external retail and institutional clients — appears to be the next business to be put on the block by the distressed insurance giant.
