UBS AG
History
UBS traces its roots back to 1747, when one of the bank's branches was founded in the Swiss region of Valposchiavo. However, the three core components of the company date back to second half of the nineteenth century. Union Bank of Switzerland, Swiss Bank Corporation, and PaineWebber or their antecedents were all founded in the 1860s and 1870s.
UBS was formed through a merger of the Union Bank of Switzerland and the Swiss Bank Corporation in June 1998. SBC had just previously built a global investment banking business through its acquisitions of Dillon Read in New York and S.G. Warburg in London. The first chairman of the merged bank had to step back in October 1998 due to the Long-Term Capital Management crisis, which affected the Union Bank of Switzerland. In 2000, UBS acquired PaineWebber Group Inc. to become the world's largest wealth management firm for private clients. Invested assets in all wealth management businesses, including the U.S., total CHF 2.766 trillion.
On June 9th, 2003, all UBS business groups rebranded under the UBS name. UBS Painewebber, UBS Warburg, UBS Asset Management, and others became just "UBS". As a result of the rebranding, UBS took a $1B write off for the loss of brand value of PaineWebber. UBS is no longer an acronym but is the company's brand, like 3M or BP. Its logo of three keys stands for confidence, security, and discretion.History of UBS (1937-1939)
UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide, with offices in 50 countries. According to the UBS website, the bank had 70,210 employees on March 31, 2006. The 2006 Q1 report breaks these Financial Business permanent staff down by region as: 25,645 in Switzerland, 27,356 in the Americas, 11,341 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (not including Switzerland), and 5,868 in Asia and Australasia.
People
- Leon Brittan, Vice Chairman, UBS Warburg, 1999
- Colin Buchan
- Shriti Vadera, UBS Dillon Read
