Competitive profile

UBS’s current business mix is a result of many decades of development, internal growth initiatives and acquisitions. Since 1998, UBS has progressively divested non-core businesses and participations, and invested in growing its core businesses and creating a balanced reach worldwide.

UBS is now a leading global wealth manager: it is a market leader (by client assets) in both Europe and Asia Pacific, in sixth position in the US and one of the only firms of global scale focusing on wealth management as a core business. In 2008, UBS was among the top five firms globally in mergers and acquisitions based on deal volume. The asset management business is one of the leading active asset managers globally and one of the largest mutual fund managers in Europe based on assets under management.

In Switzerland, UBS is the leading firm for retail and commercial banking. It serves around 2.5 million individual clients and 133,500 corporations, institutional investors, public entities and foundations, collectively. The bank has chosen to limit its retail and commercial banking business to the Swiss market, concentrating on domestic opportunities and growing selected market segments.

Source: Annual report 2008, section Strategy, performance and responsibility