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 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.
Disenchanted brokers are migrating slowly to independent channels, adding to the coffers of major custodians like Charles Schwab & Co. and Fidelity Investments.
The deepening recession and rising unemployment took a toll on homebuilding giant Centex Corp. in the final three months of 2008 as the company saw new-home sales plunge 80%.
Arbitrations that involve auction rate securities are about to be tested in new hearing procedures established by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.
Clients of Raymond James Financial Inc. who are stuck holding $1 billion of auction rate securities will have to hang onto the paper for months to come, even though several large firms have announced buybacks.
The wirehouses appear to have escaped major exposure to Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme.
The SEC finalized settlements today with Citigroup and UBS that will provide nearly $30 billion to tens of thousands of customers who invested in auction rate securities before the market for these investment products dried up in February.
The following is an edited transcript of the round-table discussion.
As much as executives at custodian firms dream about scores of wirehouse brokers going independent, they say that it's just not happening.
