Corporate Center

Corporate Center partners the business groups to ensure that UBS operates as an effective and integrated firm, according to a common vision and set of values. The functions of Corporate Center encompass risk, financial control, treasury, communication, legal and compliance, human resources, strategy, offshoring and technology.

Aims and objectives

Corporate Center helps UBS to manage its complementary businesses, underpinning the bank's commitment to the "one-firm" approach. It strives to maintain an appropriate balance between risk and return while establishing and controlling UBS's corporate governance processes, including compliance with relevant regulations. Each functional head in the Corporate Center has authority across UBS's businesses for his or her area of responsibility, including the authority to issue Group-wide policies for that area, and is directly reported to by their business group counterpart.

Corporate Center is responsible for the following activities in UBS:

– financial, tax and capital management;

– risk control, legal and compliance activities;

– communicating with all UBS stakeholders;

– branding; and

– positioning the firm as the employer of choice.

In addition, Corporate Center also assumes operational responsibility for certain business units that provide shared services to the business groups – among them the information technology infrastructure and offshoring units (including the service centers in India and Poland).

Organizational structure

The Corporate Center consists of its operational functions plus the information technology infrastructure and offshoring units. It is led by the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Corporate Center and its operational functions are managed by the Corporate Center Executive Committee.

Although not formally a part of Corporate Center, the costs for the Chairman's Office (which comprises the Company Secretary, Board of Directors (BoD) and Group Internal Audit) are reported in its financial statements.

Chief Operating Officer of the Corporate Center

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Corporate Center is head of the Corporate Center and responsible for its business planning and forecasting, as well as its human resources core processes. Additionally, the holder of this position is also the Group Executive Board (GEB) member responsible for information technology infrastructure, Group Offshoring and the corporate real estate portfolio for UBS's own use.

Group Chief Financial Officer

The Group Chief Financial Officer (Group CFO) is responsible for ensuring that presentation of the financial performance of both the Group and its businesses is transparent. The role also entails responsibility for the Group's financial reporting, planning, forecasting and controlling processes, as well as the provision of advice on financial aspects of strategic plans and mergers and acquisitions transactions. Further responsibilities include overseeing UBS's tax and capital management. In coordination with the Group General Counsel and Chief Communication Officer, the Group CFO defines the standards for accounting, reporting and disclosure and, together with the Chief Executive Officer, provides external certifications under sections 302 and 404 of the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. These duties are in addition to managing relations with investors and coordination of working relationships with internal and external auditors.

Group Chief Risk Officer

The Group Chief Risk Officer (Group CRO) is responsible for developing UBS's risk management and control principles. The position is also responsible for the independent risk control processes for credit, market and operational risks. The Chief Credit Officer, the Head of Market Risk and the Head of Operational Risk all report to the Group CRO. These four roles work together to manage the following: formulating and implementing risk policies and control processes; developing risk quantification methods and sets; monitoring associated limits and controls; ensuring that risks are completely and consistently recorded and aggregated; and ensuring that exposures are continuously monitored, pro-actively controlled and remain within approved risk profiles. Further, the four positions also work together to ensure that UBS's approach is consistent with best market practice and that the firm is operating within its agreed risk bearing capacity. Each Risk Officer exercises specific risk control authorities.

Group General Counsel

The Group General Counsel has Group-wide responsibility for legal and compliance matters and for legal and compliance policies and processes, supported by the Head of Group Compliance. The position is responsible for defining the strategy, goals and organizational structure of the legal function, in addition to setting and monitoring the Group-wide quality standards for handling the legal affairs of the Group. Supported by the Head of Group Compliance, the Group General Counsel is responsible for ensuring that UBS meets relevant regulatory and professional standards in the conduct of its business. Other responsibilities include supervision of the General Counsels of the business groups and working closely with the Group CRO with regard to the operational risk aspects of legal and liability risk. Furthermore, the Group General Counsel represents UBS's interests to the policy-makers and, in close cooperation with the Group CRO and Group CFO as appropriate, establish Group-wide management and control processes for the Group's relationship with regulators.

Group Treasurer

The Group Treasurer is responsible for the management of UBS's financial resources and financial infrastructure. The position is responsible for Group-level governance of treasury processes and transactions relating to UBS's corporate legal structure, regulatory capital, balance sheet, funding and liquidity, and non-trading currency and interest rate risk. Additional responsibilities include the issuance of policies in order to ensure proper management and efficient co-ordination of treasury processes on a Group-wide basis. The Group Treasurer manages the Group's equity, taking into account financial ratios and regulatory capital requirements, with a view to maintaining strategic flexibility, and adequate capitalization and ratings levels. The position manages UBS's holdings of its own shares and recommends corporate actions to the GEB and the BoD.

Head of Group Controlling & Accounting

The Head of Group Controlling & Accounting has UBS-wide responsibility for financial control. The position is responsible for the production and analysis of accurate and objective regulatory, financial and management accounts and reports. The Head of Group Controlling & Accounting communicates relevant financial and regulatory information to the BoD, GEB, Group Managing Board (GMB), the Audit Committee, internal and external auditors and the CFOs of the business groups. The position is also responsible for operating the UBS-wide quarterly and annual SOX 302-certification process and supports the Group CFO in the Group's planning and forecasting process.

Head of Group Accounting Policy

The Head of Group Accounting Policy establishes Group-wide financial accounting policies and supports the business groups and the Corporate Center in their responsibility to implement and enforce the Group accounting policy framework. The position manages relations with external auditors and accounting standards bodies.

Chief Communication Officer

The Chief Communication Officer is responsible for managing UBS's communication to its various stakeholders, ensuring that a positive and powerful image of UBS is established and broadcast to all stakeholders globally. Another key responsibility is the development of the strategy, content and positioning of communications of corporate importance, emphasizing transparency, consistency, speed and integrity. The Chief Communication Officer presents UBS and its businesses to the media, enhancing and protecting the firm's reputation. To employees, the position promotes understanding of the firm's strategies, performance and culture. The Chief Communication Officer also presents UBS to investors, analysts and rating agencies, is responsible for preparing and publishing quarterly and annual reporting products, manages and promotes the UBS corporate brand via advertising, sponsorship, art and visual design and coordinates UBS's approach to corporate responsibility.

Group Head Human Resources

The Group Head Human Resources has UBS-wide responsibility for human resources. The position is responsible for shaping a meritocratic culture of ambition and performance and promoting UBS's values for action. The Group Head Human Resources builds UBS's capacity to attract and retain the best talent, in addition to creating an innovative and flexible work environment to ensure that all employees from different cultures and backgrounds with different perspectives can develop and succeed. Other responsibilities include succession planning for senior executives, designing and administering global compensation and benefits programs and the design, development and delivery of leadership development programs targeted at current and future senior leaders.

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is the head of the information technology infrastructure unit (ITI). This unit encompasses all information technology infrastructure teams across UBS, covering management of data networks, telephone and other communications systems, IT security, distributed computing and servers, mainframes and data centers, market data services, user services and desktop computing. The unit focuses on serving all UBS's businesses in a client-driven and cost-efficient way, as well as building towards a consistent technical architecture across UBS through the execution of the technology infrastructure strategy.

Group Offshoring

The Head Group Offshoring is responsible for delivering offshoring services to the business groups at appropriate and competitive prices. The service centers, which are operated by UBS staff in India and Poland, ensure that physical and technical features meet UBS risk and quality standards and comply with the operational risk framework.