Auditors

External, independent auditors

At the annual general meeting (AGM) in 2008, Ernst & Young Ltd., Basel, (Ernst & Young) were re-elected as auditors for the UBS Group (Group) for a further one-year term of office. Ernst & Young assume all auditing functions according to laws, regulatory requests and the "Articles of Association of UBS AG". The Ernst & Young lead partners in charge of the UBS audit are Andrew McIntyre and Andreas Blumer (since 2005 and 2004, respectively). Ernst & Young will be proposed for re-election at the AGM in 2009.

At the AGM in 2006, BDO Visura, Zurich, was appointed as special auditor for a three-year term of office. The special auditors provide audit opinions in connection with capital increases independently from the Group auditors. BDO Visura will be proposed for re-election at the AGM in 2009.

Fees paid to external independent auditors

The fees (including expenses) paid by UBS to its auditors are listed in the following table. In addition, Ernst & Young received CHF 31,561,000 in 2008 (CHF 31,050,000 in 2007) for audit and tax work performed on behalf of UBS investment funds, many of which have independent fund boards or trustees.

Fees paid to external auditors
UBS paid the following fees (including expenses) to its external auditors Ernst & Young Ltd.:
	For the year ended
In CHF thousand	31.12.08	31.12.07

Audit
Global audit fees	45,848	49,000
Additional services classified as audit (services required by law or statute, including work of a non-recurring nature mandated by regulators)	9,918	12,718
Total audit	55,766	61,718

Non-audit
Audit-related fees	8,430	9,779
Tax advisory	504	1,892
Other	1,246	1,699
Total non-audit	10,180	13,370

Audit work includes all services necessary to perform the audit in accordance with applicable laws and generally accepted auditing principles as well as other assurance services that generally only the principal auditor can provide. This includes statutory and regulatory audits, attest services, and reviews of documents to be filed with regulatory bodies.

Audit-related work comprises assurance and related services that are traditionally performed by the principal auditors, such as letters of comfort, internal control reviews, attestation services related to financial reporting, consultation concerning financial accounting and reporting standards as well as investment performance reports.

Tax work performed by Ernst & Young's tax division encompasses routine preparation of draft original and amended tax returns, general tax planning and advice on tax compliance matters.

Other services are approved on an exceptional basis only. In 2007 and 2008, they mainly comprised on-call advisory services.

Pre-approval procedures and policies

To ensure their independence, all services provided by Ernst & Young have to be pre-approved by the audit committee of the BoD. A pre-approval may be granted either for a specific mandate or in the form of a general pre-approval authorizing a limited and well-defined type and amount of services.

The audit committee has delegated pre-approval authority to its chair; hence the Group Chief Financial Officer submits all proposals for services by Ernst & Young to the chair of the audit committee for approval. At each quarterly meeting, the committee is informed of the approvals granted by its chair.