UBS delivered outstanding financial performance and client satisfaction over the review period, driven by successful integration efforts, distinctive ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) offerings, and an ability to engage next-generation clients.

A dedicated team of next generation-focused private bankers, largely revolving around its home base in Switzerland, is at the heart of UBS’s status as Western Europe’s best for next-gen wealth services. The team draws on backgrounds across wealth management, governance and advisory services, with a combined 20 year-plus experience of working with next-gen clients.

Switzerland and Europe continue to drive much of UBS’s global-leading franchise for family office services, cementing its status as a natural choice of financial provider for family offices around the world, and notably in Europe. It is a worthy winner of the award for Western Europe’s best for family office services.

UBS has reinforced its leadership in family-office services across the Middle East, leveraging its global scale, institutional expertise and deep regional integration to address the multifaceted needs of ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) families and institutional clients.

SAB’s strength in the private banking sector has been demonstrated across multiple areas, especially when it comes to investment opportunities and digital solutions.

BTG Pactual's relentless pursuit of excellence and innovation and its client-centric approach solidify its position as Brazil's best private bank. This recognition celebrates the bank's leadership in wealth management and its dedication to empowering clients to achieve their financial aspirations.

There’s no financial institution quite like UBS in Latin America. It claims to be a unique player in the region, and so it is, offering a seamless blend of global and local wealth management services to ultra-high-net-worth clients.

DBS’s private banking business has achieved impressive growth, driven by a strategic focus on talent, client retention and a thriving family office segment.

HSBC is recognised as Hong Kong's best private bank due its commitment to tailored solutions that cater to the evolving needs of the market's private banking clients.

For over 25 years, UBS has redefined the role of wealth in addressing global challenges, transforming philanthropic aspirations into measurable impact. In Asia, where economic growth intersects with pressing social and environmental needs, the firm’s philanthropic advisory services have emerged as a bridge between private capital and systemic solutions.

In Asia’s rapidly evolving wealth management landscape, UBS has distinguished itself through a blend of investment acumen, philanthropic innovation and tailored client solutions. Drawing on its global expertise and regional agility, the bank’s 2024 achievements reflect a commitment to adaptability and client-centric growth, positioning it as a leader in Asia’s private banking sector.

In the competitive world of Asian private banking, where markets shift rapidly and client expectations evolve, UBS’s chief investment office (CIO) has carved out a distinct niche. Over the past year, the firm’s Asia team has demonstrated its ability to blend global insights with local expertise, delivering strategies that resonated with high-net-worth clients amid economic uncertainty and geopolitical flux.

UBS SuMi Trust Wealth Management takes the award for best international private bank in Japan, after significantly expanding its assets under management in the country

Through its comprehensive service model, strong financial performance and forward-thinking strategies, ANZ Private continues to set the standard for private banking in Australia.

When Iqbal Khan moved to Hong Kong from Zurich in September 2024, he went on the banking equivalent of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour – jetting from city to city and meeting client after client. He got to know a completely different Asia – one he’d visited many times, yet which by his own admission he had never really seen. 

Every private bank with international scale believes in its superior ability to serve super-wealthy family offices. But like the Highlander, there can only be one (winner), which this year is UBS.

In the world of wealth management, next-generation services are viewed by some as an interloper on the scene. But the best global wealth managers have been experts in the field for decades.

US and Canadian banks may have had a head start in generative AI, but some European banks are trying to close the gap. Those in charge of harnessing the technology at big banks in Europe say they are gaining confidence in its use: adapting marketing shots to certain client profiles, helping sales managers to sift through product policies and much more.

UBS has built a formidable reputation as a key liquidity provider across institutional, retail, corporate and wealth management domains, leveraging its expansive market liquidity, product scale and global distribution network.

UBS has increased its investment and development of leading FX technology builds notably over the past three years, especially since its recent acquisition of Credit Suisse, with a number of significant innovations having been brought to market this year.

UBS has demonstrated resilience and adaptability in the face of significant organizational changes and challenging market conditions, maintaining a strong focus on differentiated client service through consistent liquidity provision, competitive pricing and innovative content.

UBS’s acquisition of Credit Suisse boosted its capabilities in the Swiss FX market. Already a dominant player in Switzerland, the deal allowed the bank to offer a comprehensive range of FX services to a larger, more diverse client base. It also enabled it to deepen its expertise, particularly in the Swiss franc market, where client demand for specialized insights is growing.

UBS expanded its FX sales capabilities by leveraging cutting-edge tools and platforms to enhance operational efficiency and client engagement.

Through the breadth of its market liquidity, product scale and global footprint, UBS has built a strong reputation as the partner of choice for its institutional, retail, corporate and wealth management client base. Most recently, UBS has been evolving its FX trading platform based on four key principles: agility, resilience, scalability and comprehensiveness. The result of this sustained focus has been the development of new trading capabilities, such as market-making on firm trading venues and developing access to streaming swap liquidity. UBS has also invested heavily in pre- and post-trade analytics to deliver market insights and improve execution outcomes for clients as part of its ‘FX Engine Room’ offering of sales and analytical toolkits. As of 2024, across the bank’s various FX businesses, it daily trades over $125 billion electronically with more than 2,500 clients across the globe.

UBS has continued to evolve the FX offering on its UBS Neo platform over the past four years, with the bank making significant strategic investments in the last 12 months that further refine the offering.

BDO Unibank, the Philippines’ largest bank, turned in an exceptional financial performance in 2023, cementing its position as the country’s best bank.

New Zealand’s high interest rate cycle has significantly impacted borrowing demand and funding costs, marking the end of an era of record profits for banks. Despite these challenges, ASB Bank, owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, has demonstrated resilience during the awards period and is New Zealand’s best bank.

Nerves were jangling hard in Europe last year, when the panic that had seen many tens of billions of dollars’ worth of deposits flee large US regional banks in a matter of hours suddenly began emerging in Europe.

After depositors fled the wreckage of the US regional banks in 2023 and customers started jumping overboard from a sinking Credit Suisse, even more banks could have been dragged into a systemic crisis. But UBS, rebuilt after the global financial crisis as a strong, sustainable and well-managed institution, responded to the rescue call from a fellow G-Sib. It rescued Switzerland as a financial centre, stopped the panic from spreading and struck a good deal for its own shareholders. Credit Suisse was not a gift. The integration will be tough. But UBS has got off to a good start and could soon relaunch its own growth story.

Some analysts were quick to call it the deal of the century. The first takeover of a global systemically important bank that repeated management errors and regulatory failure had brought to the brink of collapse was a rescue by its domestic rival. It was a humiliation for Switzerland that, with customers pulling their money in vast quantities over several months, Credit Suisse was left to carry on to the very brink of insolvency.