UBS continues to dominate, but SG is making impressive strides in private banking
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Since winning the award for best global private bank in 2004 UBS has made four acquisitions, deepening its footprint in the US, Latin America, Luxembourg and Germany. And it is unlikely that the firm's buying spree will cease there. UBS, it seems, has made its mission the global domination of private banking. Expansion does not come cheap, but UBS is convinced that it will be an investment. So far it seems to be paying off. First-quarter pre-tax profit this year was the best yet at SFr915 million ($720 million).
Good service
The figures are impressive, and so is UBS's reputation for good service and performance as evidenced by the results of Euromoney's 2005 private banking survey.
This high level of service has enabled UBS to both attract and retain clients. The firm is now responsible for approximately 3.5 million individual client accounts, and has SFr140 billion in assets invested with it. In 2004 UBS attracted net new money of SFr59.4