Business Banking Switzerland

Business

We are the leading bank in Switzerland. At the end of 2006, clients had CHF 161 billion in invested assets with us. With a total loan book of CHF 143 billion on 31 December 2006, we lead the Swiss lending and retail mortgage markets.

Our aim is to provide clients with optimal levels of convenience and service. Together with our successful e-banking offering and customer service centers, our 1,253 automated teller machines (ATMs) and 301 branches across Switzerland, we provide a network that is larger than that of any of our domestic competitors.

One of our key objectives is to increase profitability by continuously improving efficiency and revenues through the consistent implementation of our risk-adjusted pricing model. We aim to create additional value by providing integrated financial solutions for our clients' individual requirements.

Organizational structure

The Business Banking Switzerland unit comprises the domestic branch network for corporate and individual clients, which is organized into eight regions.

Competitors

Business Banking Switzerland's major competitors are banks active in the retail and corporate banking markets in Switzerland. This group includes Credit Suisse, the country's cantonal banks, Raiffeisen Bank, and other regional or local Swiss banks as well as foreign bank branches in Switzerland.

Clients and products

Business Banking Switzerland offers high-quality, standardized products to the retail market for individual and small company clients, as well as more complex products and advisory services for larger corporate and institutional clients and financial institutions.

Individual clients

We serve around 2.7 million individual clients in Switzerland through more than 3 million accounts, mortgages and other financial relationships. With our extensive Swiss branch network, we offer a wide range of products and services supported by a complete set of distribution channels (ATMs, phone services, e-banking). Our range of products and services for individual clients includes a comprehensive selection of cash accounts, savings products, wealth management services, residential mortgages, pensions and life insurance.

Corporate clients

Business Banking Switzerland services around 137,000 corporate clients, including institutional investors, public entities and foundations based in Switzerland.

Of our corporate client base, around 200 are major companies, with operations that span a broad range of markets and geographical regions. These clients require our advanced financing and risk management skills and comprehensive access to the capital markets for funding needs.

Around 7,500 of our clients are large companies that utilize our expertise in handling complex financial transactions. We provide them with a wide range of financial advice, from the selection and design of investment products to assisting in complex mergers and acquisitions or providing structured financing, often working in close cooperation with specialists from other parts of UBS.

The remaining corporate clients (some 129,000) are small and medium-sized enterprises requiring local market expertise and access to our full range of products and ­services.

We also provide substantial business process support to our clients, ranging from transactional payments and securities services to the facilitation of cross-border transactions with trade finance products.

Our global custody services offer institutional investors the opportunity to consolidate multiple-agent bank relationships into a single, cost-efficient global custodial relationship. This simplifies their processing and administration ­arrangements and allows them to take advantage of other services, such as flexible consolidated performance reporting and powerful portfolio management tools. In 2006, ­assets under global custody for institutional clients grew to CHF 223 billion from CHF 191 billion a year earlier.

Financial institutions

We also offer payments, securities, and custodial services to more than 3,000 financial institutions worldwide and play a leading role, together with the Investment Bank, in the firm's "Bank for Banks" strategy. This focuses on offering state-of-the-art services to other banks, allowing us to put more business through our infrastructure. Other banks that lack our scale can outsource their payment, security or custodial services, benefiting from our scale efficiencies.

Distribution

Our private clients' needs have changed in recent years. Today, they want the flexibility of being able to access their accounts using the full range of modern communication technology when it is convenient for them, without restrictions imposed by regular business hours.

To meet these needs, we pursue an integrated, multi-channel strategy. We use technology to complement, rather than replace, the traditional physical branch network. Standard transactions can be conveniently executed using one of the electronic channels, enabling client advisors to focus on providing advice and developing financial solutions. For basic products and services, technology is used to ensure around-the-clock availability. Our customer service centers in five locations provide basic information and support 24 hours a day by telephone. Additionally, in 61 of our branches in Switzerland, we have implemented a two-zone concept where standard transactions are executed via ATMs, while client advisors, sitting in an open plan desk area next to the automated tellers, focus on giving clients value-added advice. Our customers make extensive use of our e-banking channels. On 31 December 2006, around 525,000 clients had active e-banking contracts and 78% of all payment orders were made by electronic channels.

In spring 2005, we started a special campaign in Switzerland to attract younger clients. Following on from the campaign's initial success, the continued national drive had generated almost 50,000 new accounts by the end of 2006.

In June 2006, we launched "UBS Welcome", a comprehensive retail package aimed at attracting new clients. By the end of 2006, we had sold more than 12,000 packages.

Also in summer 2006, we launched a national marketing campaign underlining our ability to make binding financial decisions on personal mortgage applications within 24 hours of submission.

Total lending portfolio, gross

On 31 December 2006, Business Banking Switzerland's ­total lending portfolio was CHF 143 billion, gross. Of the total, mortgages represented CHF 118 billion, almost 85%, being residential mortgages. Continued discipline in implementing our risk-adjusted pricing model has resulted in a strengthened focus of origination efforts on higher quality exposures with an attractive risk / return relationship. Thanks to the introduction of this model, the risk profile of our portfolio has clearly improved in recent years. For more details of the UBS credit portfolio, please refer to the credit risk section in the Risk Management chapter of this Handbook.

Recovery portfolio

Because there will always be a certain percentage of clients unable to meet their financial obligations, we have dedicated teams of recovery specialists to help them pursue a possible economic recovery. This can be achieved through restructuring or, alternatively, by achieving the best possible value through liquidation of available collateral in order to limit the financial loss on the loan.

Our recovery portfolio amounted to CHF 2.6 billion on 31 December 2006. Since the end of 1998, this portfolio has been cut by 90% thanks to our successful recovery ­efforts. Over the same eight-year period, non-performing loans ­decreased from CHF 14.0 billion to CHF 1.8 billion, resulting in a ratio of non-performing loans to total lending portfolio of 1.3%.