UBS raising client fees, factoring in liabilities
Next year, some clients will see higher annual fees unless they have $2 million in assets and liabilities across accounts, or alter their accounts to gain fee waivers.
UBS Wealth Management Americas is changing the fees it charges clients next year and will take into account both liabilities – explicitly mortgages and securities based loans – and assets.
Currently, UBS charges an annual account fee, in the range of $150 to $500, on clients with $1 million or less of total assets in all accounts, including Resource Management Accounts, or RMAs. Starting next December, the fee on RMAs and other accounts will increase and range from $175 to $500, according to a company source.
Clients with less than $2 million in assets and liabilities will be charged the fee, the source said, adding that there were several ways for clients to have a fee waiver.
They include: a client adding $250,000 of net new money to an account; opening a UBS Visa credit card account known as the “Infinite” card that charges a $495 annual fee; and using a UBS account aggregating tool that shows other brokerage accounts and liabilities that will count towards the $2 million minimum.
The goal is for advisers to have discussions with clients about their entire financial picture, the source said.
Likewise, annual fees on IRA accounts are increasing from $75 to $100, said the source, with ways for clients to have the fee waived.
Industry website AdvisorHub first published a story about changes in customer account fees Thursday morning.
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