UBS rules out further mega take-overs

UBS chief, Marcel Ospel, said no more major acquisitions are planned. Keystone

Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, is ruling out further mega take-overs, after clinching just such a deal last week with the US stockbrokers, PaineWebber. The chief of UBS, Marcel Ospel, said however there might be smaller buy-outs.

Ospel told the Sunday newspaper “Sonntagszeitung” that further big take-overs, such as the one just completed with PaineWebber would not happen in the near future.

However, he did not categorically rule out the odd acquisition of smaller companies in certain financial services.

Ospel explained that the take-over of PaineWebber had balanced out the Swiss bank’s “euro-centric” strategy. He said it was important to maintain the bank’s current growth expectations of up to 40 per cent.

The UBS chief stressed that the company would first and foremost remain Swiss. “Even after the take-over of PaineWebber”, he said, “over 50 per cent of the company’s profits will come from Switzerland”.

According to Ospel, more than half of the shareholders and staff members are based in Switzerland.

Ospel underlined the importance of the UBS remaining a big player in Switzerland’s retail industry because of its “attractive growth rates”.

swissinfo with agencies