ZURICH, March 20 (Reuters) – UBS has secured a national banking licence in the United States, the Swiss lender said on Friday, underlining its desire to ramp up wealth management in the world’s biggest economy.
Rob Karofsky, President UBS Americas, said in a memo posted on social media that the U.S. licence reinforced the bank’s confidence in its U.S. business and its ambition to strengthen UBS’s position as a global wealth manager.
A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the authenticity of the memo.
UBS said in October last year it had applied for approval to convert its U.S. bank, UBS Bank USA, to a nationally chartered bank, which will allow it to match the full range of services offered by U.S. lenders, including checking accounts, savings accounts and mortgages.
UBS sees the U.S., where more than 1,000 people became millionaires every day in 2024, as the most important growth market in its core wealth management business.
But UBS is less profitable than leading U.S. banks, such as Morgan Stanley. The Swiss lender is also facing obstacles in revamping the business after losing billions of dollars in client assets and nearly 200 financial advisers, according to analysts and industry sources, Reuters reported this week.
The need to fix the U.S. business has taken on extra urgency since UBS bought Credit Suisse after its former rival’s collapse in 2023.
UBS has since been faced with new regulations in Switzerland that it views as extreme, and establishing a more solid U.S. base could help it grow its business as it seeks to satisfy investor demands for greater returns.
(Reporting by Oliver Hirt; Writing by Dave Graham Editing by Ludwig Burger and Jane Merriman)
