The making of UBS

All the firms that have come to make up today's UBS look back on a long and diverse history. Both the two Swiss predecessor banks and PaineWebber Group Inc. (PaineWebber) came into being in the second half of the 19th century, while S.G. Warburg's roots go back to 1934. But it was in the 1990s when UBS's current identity began to form.

In the early 1990s, the two Swiss banks that came to form the current UBS, Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) and Union Bank of Switzerland, were commercial banks operating mainly out of Switzerland. The two banks shared a similar vision: to become a world leader in wealth management and a global bulge-bracket investment bank with a strong position in global asset management, while remaining an important commercial and retail bank in Switzerland.

Union Bank of Switzerland, the largest and best-capitalized Swiss bank of its time, opted to pursue a strategy of organic growth, or expansion by internal means. In contrast, SBC, then the third-largest Swiss bank, decided to take another route by starting a joint venture with O'Connor, a leading US derivatives firm that was fully acquired by SBC in 1992. O'Connor was noted for its young, dynamic and innovative culture, meritocracy and its team orientation. It brought state-of-the-art risk management and derivatives technology to SBC. In 1994, SBC acquired Brinson Partners, one of the leading US-based institutional asset management firms. Both the O'Connor and Brinson deals represented fundamental steps in the development of the firm.

The next major move was in 1995, when SBC acquired S.G. Warburg, the British merchant bank. The deal helped to fill SBC's strategic gaps in corporate finance, brokerage and research and, most importantly, brought with it an institutional client franchise, which is still crucial to today's equities business.

The 1998 merger of Swiss Bank Corporation and Union Bank of Switzerland brought together these two leading Swiss financial institutions, creating a leading global wealth manager and improving the new firm's chances of becoming a global bulge bracket investment bank and a leading global institutional asset manager.

Still, in order to become a truly global player in investment banking and wealth management, UBS needed to establish a significant presence in the key US market. UBS advanced towards this objective when it acquired PaineWebber in 2000.

Since the acquisition of PaineWebber, UBS's main priority has been to develop and grow organically. Smaller acquisitions have helped to accelerate and complement the firm's growth. In 2006, for instance, UBS enhanced its presence in Brazil and Latin America by acquiring Brazil's largest independent investment bank and asset manager, Banco Pactual. Today, UBS has significant scale in its areas of focus, with strong positions in large, mature markets as well as a growing presence in emerging markets.

Refer to www.ubs.com/history for more information

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