The Swiss bank’s own collection of 40,000 works in UBS offices around the world will not be affected, a UBS spokeswoman said in an interview..

Also unaffected is UBS’s sponsorship of the Art Basel fair in Switzerland and its sister event, Art Basel Miami Beach, in the US. “We are committed to our existing sponsorship partners,” the spokeswoman said.

The move comes at a time when there continues to be interest in art investing in the private banking industry. While not unaffected by the global financial turmoil, art has been seen as a good way to diversify investment risk and has enjoyed strong returns in recent years.