UBS targets wealth management growth in US
Swiss bank UBS has set itself the ambitious target of catching up with competitors in the United States by investing heavily over the next three years, Director of Global Wealth Management, Iqbal Khan, told NZZ am Sonntag.
The goal is to acquire $150 billion (CHF130 billion) in new customer funds each year.
+ Why Switzerland fears a monster UBS bank
On the customer side, the bank is expected to constitute a counterweight to the oligopoly of American banks. “We have the unique opportunity to be a fully global bank based in Switzerland,” noted Khan.
As for the fear that UBS’s size could become a risk, Khan emphasises that on the contrary, a global presence constitutes an advantage, guaranteeing more stability and predictability of business.
Khan intends to instill confidence in former Credit Suisse employees who moved to UBS “with transparency and presence.” Employees want clarity, which allows them to deal with difficulties. This applies to everyone, and the difference between CS and UBS does not matter, according to the manager.
What is decisive, he added, is that integration is fair, transparent and based on meritocracy criteria. Everyone must understand that for each position, the most capable and suitable person has been chosen.
Khan also rejected criticism that he was co-responsible for the bankruptcy of the Greensill funds because he was part of the management of Credit Suisse until 2019. “I have never met Greensill or had any discussion with him,” he said. Furthermore, no internal or external investigation by Finma has shown any failure on its part.
Aged 47, Khan is one of those who could, when the time comes, succeed CEO Sergio Ermotti. It is premature to talk about this, he noted, specifying that the collaboration with Ermotti was “great”.
More
What it takes to fuse two Swiss banking giants
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
More
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
More
In Switzerland four out of ten people have a migrant background – who are they?
More
Suicides in Switzerland quadruple among older people
More
French gangs target luxury cars in Switzerland
More
Renewed controversy in Switzerland over US fighter jets – explained
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.