UBS Targets Unprofitable GWM Clients – Media

Tom Burroughes

5 August 2024

A media report last week said 3,500 clean-up campaign could affect a customer who received preferential terms for a loan but did not do further business with UBS as hoped. In such a case, the bank speaks of a so-called `monoliner'. If the customer only has the loan, the bank has to provide him with too many risk-weighted assets in relation to the return, says an insider. Of course, UBS still earns money from the customer, but from the management's point of view, too little," the article said.

Todd Tuckner, group chief financial officer, speaking on 6 February 2024, said: “In wealth management, to give an example, we are inheriting a situation where there was just say a loan relationship between the bank and a client. And perhaps, you know, we weren't bringing to bear the holistic client array of services that is our expectation to sort of do. Now, it's been the blueprint for us in UBS GWM.

"And so, that's just an example where you have kind of a monoline is a simple example of that. Another example could be pricing. So, you might not be getting the pricing for the risks that you're effectively taking with respect to that financing. So, I think those are two examples where, you know, we need to do work to ensure the holistic client coverage is brought to bear in a given situation or we're looking at pricing opportunities in particular cases," Tuckner said in the briefing.

In April, there was media speculation that the Swiss federal government wanted to impose higher capital requirements on UBS as a result of the Credit Suisse takeover.