UBS plans to test a new suite of everyday banking products with its U.S. employees before expanding the offering to wealthy American clients, according to the Financial Times.
According to the InvestmentNews, UBS expects to begin opening bank accounts for U.S. employees as early as December in this first phase of the firm's strategy to become a full service bank. The internal rollout will allow the firm to refine product features and pricing before launching the banking platform to wealth management clients in mid-2027.
As InvestmentNews reports, the expansion follows regulators' approval earlier this year of UBS Bank USA's conversion to a nationally chartered bank. The firm plans to target clients with between $2 million and $10 million in investable assets, a segment that falls below UBS's traditional ultra-high-net-worth client base.
UBS estimates that it serves approximately 700,000 U.S. households. According to InvestmentNews, the firm believes those clients currently hold roughly $150 billion in deposits at competing financial institutions, including JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. UBS hopes its national banking charter will encourage clients to move more of those deposits onto its own platform.
The banking initiative accompanies broader efforts to expand the firm's product offerings. As InvestmentNews reports, UBS has also explored introducing cryptocurrency trading for private banking clients in Switzerland. The firm has reportedly spent several months evaluating potential partners for a digital asset platform that would initially allow select Swiss clients to trade bitcoin and ether, with a possible expansion into other markets, including the United States.
According to InvestmentNews, UBS continues pursuing its U.S. growth strategy while navigating a dispute with the Swiss government over proposed increases to capital requirements following the 2023 collapse of Credit Suisse.
At the same time, UBS has reduced its workforce in parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa as it continues integrating Credit Suisse. InvestmentNews reports that the reductions primarily affected support staff and did not impact the firm's approximately 5,700 financial advisors in the United States.
UBS has also stated that it expects to eliminate approximately 3,000 positions in Switzerland as the integration progresses. According to InvestmentNews, the bank has achieved approximately $11.5 billion in cumulative integration-related cost savings and continues working toward a target run rate of $13.5 billion by the end of 2026.
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