UBS was founded in 1862 as the
Bank in Winterthur. The
Bank in Winterthur came with the movement that founded multiple
Suisse Grossbanken (Swiss big banks) that occurred in the latter sector of the 19th century. The name of the bank was derived from the town of
Winterthur, which served as Switzerland's industrial hub in the 19th century. By 1854, six private bankers in
Basel founded the
Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) to cater to the increasing credit needs of Swiss railroad and manufacturing companies. It formed a
private banking syndicate that expanded, aided by Switzerland's
international neutrality. In 1912, the Bank of Winterthur merged with
Toggenburger Bank to form the
Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) When Union Bank and SBC merged, officials originally wanted to name the merged company the "United Bank of Switzerland," but opted to call it simply
UBS because of a name clash with the separate Swiss company
United Bank Switzerland – a part of the
United Bank Limited's Swiss subsidiary. UBS is no longer an
acronym for Union Bank of Switzerland, but
is the company's brand, just like other prominent brands which used to be an abbreviation of a company name. The name 'UBS' came from one of its predecessor firms – the Union Bank of Switzerland. In fact, that was one of the more than 370 financial firms that have, since 1862, become part of today's UBS. Its logo of three keys was carried over from SBC, and stands for the company's values of confidence, security, and discretion. In 2012, the bank reoriented itself around wealth management advisory services and limited its
sell side operations.
Swiss Bank Corporation logo (), featuring the three keys meant to symbolize confidence, security, and discretion UBS' earliest corporate ancestor was formed in 1854, when six private banking firms in
Basel, Switzerland pooled their resources to form the
Bankverein, a consortium that acted as an underwriting
syndicate for its member banks. In 1871, the Bankverein coordinated with the German
Frankfurter Bankverein to form the
Basler Bankverein, a
joint-stock company replacing the original Bankverein consortium. SBC subsequently experienced a period of growth, which was only interrupted by the onset of
World War I, in which the bank lost investments in a number of large industrial companies. By the end of 1918, the bank had recovered and surpassed CHF 1 billion in total assets and grew to 2,000 employees by 1920. The impact of the
stock market crash of 1929 and the
Great Depression was severe, particularly as the
Swiss franc suffered major
devaluation in 1936. The bank saw its assets fall from a 1929 peak of CHF 1.6 billion to its 1918 levels of CHF 1 billion by 1936. The office, located in the
Equitable Building, was able to begin operations a few weeks after the outbreak of the war and was intended as a safe place to store assets in the case of an invasion. During the war, the banks' traditional business fell off and the Swiss government became its largest client. The bank opened a full branch office in Tokyo in 1970. O'Connor was combined with SBC's
money market,
capital market, and
currency market activities to form a globally integrated capital markets and
treasury operation. Following the acquisition, founder
Gary P. Brinson ran SBC's asset management business and later when SBC merged with UBS was named
chief investment officer of UBS Asset Management. The acquisition of
S.G. Warburg & Co., a leading British investment banking firm, in 1995 for the price of US$1.4 billion (~$ in ) signified a major push into investment banking. S.G. Warburg & Co. had established a reputation as a daring
merchant bank that grew to be one of the most respected investment banks in London. However, a Warburg expansion into the U.S. had turned out flawed and costly, and talks in 1994 with
Morgan Stanley about a merger had collapsed. SBC merged the firm with its own existing investment banking unit to create SBC Warburg. Two years later, in 1997, SBC paid US$600 million (~$ in ) to acquire
Dillon, Read & Co., a U.S.
bulge bracket investment bank. Dillon, Read & Co., which traced its roots to the 1830s, was among the powerhouse firms on
Wall Street in the 1920s and 1930s, and by the 1990s had a particularly strong
mergers and acquisitions advisory group. Dillon Read had been in negotiations to sell itself to
ING, which owned 25% of the firm already, but Dillon Read partners balked at
ING's integration plans. The Toggenburger Bank was founded in 1863 with an initial share capital of CHF 1.5 million, The combined bank had total assets of CHF 202 million and a total
shareholders' equity of CHF 46 million. The issue of "unclaimed property" of
Holocaust victims became a major issue for UBS in the mid-1990s, and a series of revelations in 1997 brought the issue to the forefront of national attention in 1996 and 1997. UBS confirmed that a large number of accounts had gone unclaimed as a result of the bank's policy of requiring death certificates from family members to claim the contents of the account. UBS's handling of these revelations were largely criticized and the bank received significant negative attention in the U.S. UBS came under significant pressure, particularly from American politicians, to compensate Holocaust survivors who were making claims against the bank. (pictured above) in Zürich. Shortly after the end of World War II, Union Bank of Switzerland completed the
acquisition of the
Eidgenössische Bank, a large Zürich-based bank that became
insolvent. As a result of the merger, Union Bank of Switzerland exceeded CHF 1 billion in assets and moved its operations to Zürich. UBS opened branches and acquired a series of banks in Switzerland in the following years, growing from 31 offices in 1950 to 81 offices by the early 1960s. By 1962, Union Bank of Switzerland reached CHF 6.96 billion of assets, narrowly edging ahead of
Swiss Bank Corporation to become the largest bank in Switzerland. The rapid growth was punctuated by the 1967 acquisition of
Interhandel, which made UBS one of the strongest banks in Europe. The bank's investments had been in the conservative asset management and
life insurance businesses; further, 60% of the bank's profits came from its even more conservative Swiss banking operations. In 1993,
Credit Suisse outbid Union Bank of Switzerland for Switzerland's
Swiss Volksbank, the fifth largest bank in Switzerland which had run into financial difficulties in the early 1990s.
Merger of Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation: 1998 's "three keys" icon. During the mid-1990s, Union Bank of Switzerland came under fire from dissident shareholders critical of its conservative management and lower return on equity. Martin Ebner, through his investment trust, BK Vision, became the largest shareholder in Union Bank of Switzerland and attempted to force a major restructuring of the bank's operations. Looking to take advantage of the situation,
Credit Suisse approached Union Bank of Switzerland about a merger that would have created the second largest bank in the world in 1996. Union Bank of Switzerland's management and board unanimously rebuffed the proposed merger. Ebner, who supported the idea of a merger, led a shareholder revolt that resulted in the replacement of Union Bank of Switzerland's chairman, Robert Studer with Mathis Cabiallavetta, one of the key architects of the merger with
Swiss Bank Corporation. On 8 December 1997, Union Bank of Switzerland and
Swiss Bank Corporation announced an all-stock merger. At the time of the merger, Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation were the second and third largest banks in Switzerland, respectively. Discussions between the two banks had begun several months earlier, less than a year after rebuffing Credit Suisse's merger overtures. The merger resulted in the creation of UBS AG, a new bank with total assets of more than US$590 billion (~$ in ), the largest of its kind. During the merger, UBS chairman
Marcel Ospel originally wanted to call the company "United Bank of Switzerland", but settled on simply using "UBS" following the acquisition of American brokerage firm,
Paine Webber. Colloquially referred to as the "New UBS" to distinguish itself from the former Union Bank of Switzerland, the combined bank became the second largest in the world at the time, behind only the
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. Union Bank of Switzerland had a stronger retail and commercial banking business in Switzerland, while both banks had strong asset management capabilities.
Paine Webber and international expansion: 2000–2006 brand was dropped On 3 November 2000, UBS merged with
Paine Webber, an American
stock brokerage and asset management firm led by chairman and CEO
Donald Marron. At the time of its merger with UBS, Paine Webber had emerged as the fourth largest private client firm in the United States with 385 offices employing 8,554 brokers. The acquisition pushed UBS to the top wealth and asset management firm in the world. Initially, the business was given the divisional name
UBS PaineWebber but in 2003 the 123-year-old name Paine Webber disappeared when it was renamed
UBS Wealth Management USA. UBS took a CHF 1 billion write-down for the loss of
goodwill associated with the retirement of the
Paine Webber brand when it integrated its brands under the unified UBS name in 2003. In an attempt to break into the elite
bulge bracket of investment banks, in which UBS then had little success while rival
Credit Suisse was establishing itself as a major player on
Wall Street with the acquisition of
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in 2000, Costas shifted the growth strategy from acquiring entire firms to hiring individual investment bankers or teams of bankers from rival firms. Costas had followed a similar approach in building out the UBS fixed income business, hiring over 500 sales and trading personnel and increasing
revenues from US$300 million in 1998 to over US$3 billion by 2001. , 2012|left The arrival of former
Drexel Burnham Lambert investment banker
Ken Moelis marked a major coup for Costas. Moelis joined UBS from
Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette in 2001 shortly after its acquisition by
Credit Suisse First Boston (although
Huw Jenkins claimed he had hired Moelis to the UK Parliamentary Banking commission while under oath, which is patently false). In his six years at UBS, Moelis ultimately assumed the role of president of
UBS Investment Bank and was credited, along with Costas, with the build-out of UBS's investment banking operation in the United States. Within weeks of joining, Moelis brought over a team of 70 bankers from Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. It was estimated that UBS spent as much as US$600 million to US$700 million hiring top bankers in the U.S. during this three-year period. Among the bank's other major recruits during this period were
Olivier Sarkozy, Ben Lorello,
Blair Effron, and Jeff McDermott. By 2003, UBS had risen to fourth place from seventh in global investment banking fees, earning US$2.1 billion of the US$39 billion paid to investment banks that year, increasing 33%. In 2006, UBS set up a joint venture in China (see
UBS Securities, China branch). However, by the end of 2006, UBS began to experience changing fortunes. In late 2005, Costas headed a new
hedge fund unit within UBS known as
Dillon Read Capital Management. His former position was taken over by
Huw Jenkins, a long-time legacy UBS investment banker. In 2006, UBS bankers
Blair Effron and Michael Martin announced their departures. In March 2007, Moelis announced that he was leaving the company, and shortly thereafter founded a new business,
Moelis & Company. As he had when joining UBS, Moelis took a large team of senior UBS investment bankers. Moelis's departure was caused primarily by repeated conflict over the availability of capital from the bank's
balance sheet to pursue large
transactions, particularly
leveraged buyouts. The bank's apparent conservatism would be turned on its head when large losses were reported in various mortgage securities rather than corporate loans that generated investment banking fees. After Moelis, other notable departures included investment banking co-head Jeff McDermott in early 2007 and, as the
2008 financial crisis set in, other high-profile bankers such as
Oliver Sarkozy in early 2008 and Ben Lorello in 2009.
Subprime mortgage crisis and recovery: 2007–2009 At the beginning of 2007, UBS became the first
Wall Street firm to announce a heavy loss in the
subprime mortgage sector as the
subprime mortgage crisis began to develop. In May 2007, UBS announced the closure of its
Dillon Read Capital Management (DRCM) division. Although in 2006, DCRM had generated a profit for the bank of US$720 million, after UBS took over DRCM's positions in May 2007, losses grew from the US$124 million recorded by DRCM, ultimately to "16% of the US$19 billion in losses UBS recorded." The UBS investment bank continued to expand
subprime risk in the second quarter of 2007 while most market participants were reducing risk, resulting in not only expanding DRCM losses but creating 84% of the other losses experienced by the bank. In response to the growing series of problems at UBS, and possibly his role in spearheading Costas' departure from the bank,
Peter Wuffli unexpectedly stepped down as CEO of the firm during the second quarter of 2007. Wuffli would be joined by many of his fellow managers in the next year, most notably the bank's chairman
Marcel Ospel. However, the bank's problems continued through the end of 2007, when the bank reported its first quarterly loss in over five years. As its losses
jeopardized the bank's capital position, UBS quickly raised US$11.5 billion of capital in December 2007, US$9.7 billion of which came from the
Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and US$1.8 billion from an unnamed Middle Eastern investor. headquarters, 2009|left After a significant expansion of
fixed income risk during 2006 and 2007 under the leadership of
Huw Jenkins, the UBS Investment Bank CEO, the bank's losses continued to mount in 2008 when UBS announced in April 2008 that it was writing down a further US$19 billion of investments in
subprime and other mortgage assets. By this point, UBS's total losses in the mortgage market were in excess of US$37 billion, the largest such losses of any of its peers. In response to its losses, UBS announced a CHF 15 billion
rights offering to raise the additional funds need to shore up its depleted reserves of capital. UBS cut its
dividend to protect its traditionally high
Tier 1 capital ratio, seen by investors as a key to its credibility as the world's largest wealth management company. In October 2008, UBS announced that it had placed CHF 6 billion of new capital, through mandatory convertible notes, with
Swiss Confederation. The
Swiss National Bank and UBS made an agreement to transfer approximately US$60 billion of currently illiquid securities and various assets from UBS to a separate fund entity. In November 2008, UBS put US$6 billion (~$ in ) of equity into the new "bad bank" entity, keeping only an option to benefit if the value of its assets were to recover. Heralded as a "neat" package by
The New York Times, the UBS structure guaranteed clarity for UBS investors by making an outright sale. UBS announced in February 2009 that it had lost nearly CHF 20 billion (US$17.2 billion) in 2008, the biggest single-year loss of any company in Swiss history. During the
2008 financial crisis, UBS wrote down more than US$50 billion (~$ in ) from subprime mortgage investments and cut more than 11,000 jobs. By the spring of 2009, UBS announced another management restructuring and initiated a plan to return to profitability.
Jerker Johansson, the head of the investment bank division, resigned in April 2009 and was replaced by
Alex Wilmot-Sitwell and
Carsten Kengeter. At the same time, UBS announced the planned cut of 8,700 jobs and had implemented a new compensation plan. Under the plan, no more than one-third of any cash bonus would be paid out in the year it is earned with the rest to be held in reserve and stock-based incentives that would vest after three years. In April 2009, UBS announced that it agreed to sell its Brazilian financial services business,
UBS Pactual, for approximately US$2.5 billion (~$ in ) to BTG Investments. The Swiss government sold its CHF 6 billion stake in UBS in late 2008 at a large profit; Switzerland had purchased convertible notes in 2008 to help UBS clear its balance sheets of toxic assets. Taking advantage of improved conditions in the stock market in mid-2009, UBS placed US$3.5 billion of shares with a small number of large
institutional investors.
Oswald Grübel announced, "We are building a new UBS, one that performs to the highest standards and behaves with integrity and honesty; one that distinguishes itself not only through the clarity and reliability of the advice and services it provides but in how it manages and executes." Grübel reiterated plans to maintain an integrated business model of providing wealth management advisory, investment banking, and asset management services.
Shift to private banking and market reemergence: 2010–2022 In August 2010, UBS launched a new advertising campaign featuring the slogan: "We will not rest" and signed a global sponsorship agreement with
Formula 1. On 26 October 2010, UBS announced that its private bank recorded net new funds of CHF 900 million during the third quarter, compared to an outflow of CHF 5.5 billion in second quarter. UBS's third quarter net profit of US$1.65 billion (~$ in ) beat analyst estimates, continuing a string of profitability. After the elimination of almost 5,000 jobs, UBS announced on 23 August 2011 that it was further cutting another 3,500 positions to "improve operating efficiency" and save CHF 1.5 to CHF 2 billion a year. 45 percent of the job cuts would come from the investment banking unit, which continued to post dismal figures since the
2008 financial crisis, while the rest would come from the wealth management and asset management divisions. The firm has seen profits fall due to the rise of the Swiss franc. On 15 September 2011, UBS became aware of a massive loss, originally estimated at US$2 billion (~$ in ), allegedly due to unauthorized trading by
Kweku Adoboli, a then 31-year-old Ghanaian trader on the
delta one desk of the firm's investment bank. Adoboli was arrested and later charged with fraud by abuse of position and false accounting dating as far back as 2008. UBS's actual losses were subsequently confirmed as US$2.3 billion, and according to the prosecutor in Adoboli's trial he "was a gamble or two from destroying Switzerland's largest bank for his own benefit." On 24 September 2011 UBS announced chief executive
Oswald Grübel's resignation, and the appointment of
Sergio Ermotti as his replacement on an interim basis. , Switzerland|left On 30 October 2012, UBS announced that it was cutting 10,000 jobs worldwide in an effort to slim down its investment banking operations, of which 2,500 would be in Switzerland, followed by the United States and Great Britain. This 15-percent staff cut would make overall staff count come down from 63,745 to 54,000. (For comparison, the peak employment level in 2007 before the
2008 financial crisis was 83,500). UBS also announced that the investment bank would focus on its traditional strengths and exit much of its fixed income trading business that was not economically profitable. On 19 December 2012, UBS was fined $1.5 billion (~$ in ) for its role in the
Libor scandal over accusations that it tried to rig benchmark interest rates. In November 2014, regulators including the FCA and CFTC hit UBS with fines, along with other banks, for
currency manipulation. On 6 January 2014, it was reported that UBS had become the largest private banker in the world, with $1.7 (~$ in ) trillion in assets. In May 2015, media reports revealed UBS is planning to sell its Australian private banking division to some of its management after a review of underperforming businesses was conducted at the company. In late 2016, the bank created the
digital currency "Utility Settlement Coin" (USC) to accelerate
inter-bank settlements and established a
blockchain technology research laboratory in London. From 2012 to 2018, the investment bank, led by
Andrea Orcel, initiated a major
restructuring, firing over 10,000 employees and focusing on European
underwriting business instead of traditional dealmaking. UBS announced in January 2018 that it does not trade or expose clients to
cryptocurrencies as it believes they have little to no
elasticity, and are
speculatively valued. It partnered with technology company
IBM to launch a blockchain
trade finance platform called "Batavia" in early 2018. In April 2021, UBS reported a $774 million (~$ in ) loss from the collapse of US investment fund
Archegos Capital Management. In July 2021, during the
COVID-19 pandemic, UBS announced it would continue to allow for
flextime and
remote work by many employees, noting that they did not impede productivity. The announcement distinguished the bank from its competitors, such as
Morgan Stanley and
Goldman Sachs, which pressured on employees to return to the office as
COVID-19 lockdowns and measures eased. In January 2022, UBS agreed to acquire
Wealthfront for $1.4 billion. UBS expects to accelerate its growth in the US with the purchase, and will operate Wealthfront as a business within UBS Global Wealth Management. UBS announced that it would instead invest in a $69.7million note convertible into Wealthfront shares, valuing the latter at its acquisition price. In it, he warned investors to not read too much foreign news (international media) about China, and said that some international investors read "too much" of it.
Acquisition of Credit Suisse: 2023 In March 2023, UBS agreed to buy
Credit Suisse, one of its main competitors, for $3.25 billion (CHF 3 billion), in an emergency rescue deal. On 29 March 2023 it was announced that Sergio Ermotti is returning as chief executive officer from 5 April 2023, replacing Ralph Hamers after just over two years in charge, after approval by 5 April 2023 annual general meeting. Hamers is expected to stay with the bank for a transition period. UBS completed the acquisition on 12 June 2023. On 28 June, it became known that UBS plans to lay off more than half of Credit Suisse's employees. First of all, the reduction will affect traders and support staff in London, New York and some Asian divisions. Prior to the takeover, Credit Suisse employed about 45,000 people. In July 2023, UBS was fined $269 million by the Federal Reserve and $119 million by the
Bank of England for Credit Suisse's failure in risk management related to Archegos's collapse. In August 2023, UBS settled with the
US Justice Department by agreeing to pay $1.43 billion in civil penalties regarding allegations of fraud and misconduct in its
residential mortgage-backed securities offerings it offered in 2006 and 2007. According to
Citigroup, the new bank will account for 35% of domestic deposits, 31% of corporate loans and 26% of mortgages in Switzerland. UBS will keep the Swiss business of Credit Suisse but will retire its brand. UBS says it plans to cut costs by $10 billion. UBS also announced at the end of August 2023 that money outflows have stopped at Credit Suisse. In September 2023, the
US Department of Justice (DOJ) started investigating UBS for Credit Suisse's alleged compliance failures which enabled its Russian clients to dodge sanctions. Later UBS stated that the bank is not aware of such a probe by the DOJ and that previous reports on such allegations were incorrect. In May 2025, UBS agreed to pay $511 million to settle a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into
Credit Suisse's assistance to wealthy Americans in hiding over $4 billion in offshore accounts. This settlement includes a guilty plea from Credit Suisse Services AG for aiding in the preparation of false tax returns and a non-prosecution agreement related to undeclared accounts in Singapore. In October 2025, UBS appointed Beatriz Martin as its chief operations officer, who had been the company's chief group integration officer since 2023. As part of the role, Martin will oversee the integration of Credit Suisse following its acquisition in 2023. ==Acquisition history==