Initiatives and achievements

In full-year 2006, UBS reported net profit attributable to shareholders ("attributable profit") of CHF 12,257 million – CHF 11,491 million from continuing operations and CHF 766 million from discontinued operations. For our financial businesses, attributable profit from continuing operations was a record CHF 11,249 million.

In fourth quarter 2006, UBS reported attributable profit of CHF 3,407 million. This includes a contribution from discontinued operations of CHF 262 million related to disposal gains in Industrial Holdings. Attributable profit from continuing operations was CHF 3,145 million. Financial businesses contributed CHF 3,055 million to this result.

UBS completes acquisition of Banco Pactual

In early December we announced the completion of the acquisition of Banco Pactual S.A. UBS's Brazilian business now runs under the UBS Pactual name and it is one of the top providers of investment banking, asset management and wealth management services in Brazil. The new business will be the cornerstone of UBS's operations in Brazil and across all of Latin America. The combined UBS Pactual entity has offices in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Recife.

UBS purchased Pactual with an upfront payment of approximately USD 1 billion and up to USD 1.6 billion in five years, subject to certain performance conditions. In its first month, Pactual contributed especially high revenues of CHF 102 million to UBS's results, and pre-tax profit after acquisition costs (retention payments, amortization of intangibles and estimated costs of capital) was CHF 23 million.

Regional coordination

As a result of the increasingly integrated nature of UBS's business, the Group Executive Board's (GEB) regional coordination and governance processes have been strengthened and formalized. As publicly announced in November 2006, three GEB members were appointed as regional sponsors. In addition, at the Group Managing Board (GMB) level, a regional coordinator role was established.

Huw Jenkins was appointed GEB regional sponsor for the US, Canada and Latin America, Raoul Weil was named GEB regional sponsor for Europe and Switzerland, and, in the Middle East, John Fraser continues to be the regional sponsor.

The Asia Pacific governance framework remained unchanged.

Regional sponsors and coordinators are responsible for overall regional strategic planning, the escalation of issues (particularly in the case of conflicts with Business Group agendas), as well as advocacy of priorities and resource commitments that affect their region.

It is important to note that this does not affect the global business structure we have in place.

UBS granted Mexican banking license

In early January 2007, we received approval from the Mexican Ministry of Finance to offer domestic banking services. We plan to begin operations in first quarter 2007 by offering cash, foreign exchange and debt products to institutional investors. Additional products and services may be offered in the future to institutional and individual clients.

UBS has one of best corporate websites in Europe

UBS has the best corporate website in Switzerland and one of the best in Europe, according to a recent study. The study was carried out by the Swedish investor relations consulting firm Halvarsson & Halvarsson. As was the case last year, UBS was ranked first in Switzerland, followed by Swisscom, Nestlé, Credit Suisse and ABB, and placed fifth out of 165 firms in Europe, behind the Dutch logistics company TNT, Danske Bank, Telecom Italia and Fortum.

The rankings were collated from a questionnaire sent to 420 analysts and journalists across Europe – users who tend to rely heavily on corporate internet sites to find information. The maximum number of points awarded was 100. UBS scored 79.25, compared with 68.25 last year.