Important Events:
Switzerland and the World

Important Events:
Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC)
Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS)

Beginning of the financial crisis in Asia.

The United States publish the Eizenstat Report ("U.S. and Allied Efforts to Recover and Restore Gold and Other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany During WW2 - Preliminary Study coordinated by Stuart E. Eizenstat, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade"), which aims mainly at Switzerland.

As a gesture of good will the three major banks in Switzerland, the Swiss National Bank and some major industries set up the Humanitarian Fund for Victims of the Holocaust and endow it with 270 million CHF.

Hong Kong ceases to be a British Crown Colony and becomes part of the communist People's Republic of China.

The new Swiss Federal Law on Stock Exchanges and Securities Trading enters into force.

The unemployment rate in Switzerland reaches an all-time high of 5.7%. This compares with an EU-average of above 10%.

SBC celebrates its 125th anniversary.

Within SBC a new organizational structure enters into force consisting of the Corporate Center and the four Divisions SBC Switzerland, SBC Private Banking, SBC Warburg, and SBC Brinson.

SBC acquires Dillon, Read & Co., New York, an old established Investment Bank founded in 1832, integrates it into the SBC Warburg Division and renames the division SBC Warburg Dillon Read.

SBC also acquires Banco Omega, São Paulo, Brasil, and enters into strategic alliances with Brunswick in Russia and Long Term Credit Bank (LTCB) in Japan.

December 8th: At a joint media conference in Zurich UBS and SBC announce their planned merger.

Total Assets of the SBC Group at the end of the year amount to 438,9 billion CHF.

SBC has a staff of 27'565, of which 10'169 work abroad and 365 offices, of which 77 are abroad.

SBC sets aside a special provision of 2.8 billion CHF for restructuring costs in connection with the merger. By this, the SBC Group for the year 1997 shows a loss of 0,25 billion CHF instead of a profit.

On January 8th Christoph Meili, an external security guard, finds at UBS in Zurich old documents stemming from the former Federal Bank (Eidgenössische Bank), which UBS took over in 1945. The documents had been set aside by a UBS archivist to be destroyed. In his view, they did not contain any material that would be relevant in the context of the dormant accounts. Meili, however, hands these documents over to the Jewish Community in Zurich and the highly publicised "Christoph Meili-case" develops. Criminal proceedings begin, against the archivist for possible violation of a recent Federal Document Destruction decree and against Meili for possible violation of Banking Secrecy which would be a criminal offence in Switzerland. Both proceedings, however, are discontinued by the District Attorney in September 1997.

UBS sets up PT UBS Securities Indonesia, Jakarta.

UBS sets up UBS Securities (Pakistan) Ltd., Karachi.

UBS acquires the German Private Banking house Schröder Münchmeyer Hengst & Co (SMH), Frankfurt on Main. This bank will continue to operate under its own name.

UBS sells its consumer loans subsidiary Bank Aufina, Brugg. The bank continues to operate under the name of GE Capital Bank, Brugg.

December 8th: At a joint media conference in Zurich UBS and SBC announce their planned merger.

Total Assets of the UBS Group at the end of the year for the first time exceed 500 billion CHF (577,6 billion CHF).

UBS has a staff of 27'611, of which 8256 work abroad and 357 offices, of which 82 are abroad.

UBS establishes a special provision of 4.2 billion CHF for restructuring costs in connection with the merger. By this, the UBS Group for the year 1997 shows a loss of 0.12 billion CHF instead of a profit.

After careful consideration it is decided that the name of the merged bank is to be UBS. In order to distinguish it from the old UBS the merged bank is to be referred to always as "the new UBS" or as "UBS AG".

Through this merger, one of the largest banks in Europe is being created and the world's largest Private Banking and Asset Management institution. The new UBS will manage client funds of 1320 billion CHF.
It will have a market capitalisation of 85 billion CHF and will rank in this respect among the four largest financial services companies in the world. Total assets of the merged bank will be 922 billion CHF (on the basis of the year end figures 1016 billion CHF).