UBS raising client fees, factoring in liabilities

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.