Assess the recent performance and future prospects of any commercial bank known to you - Essay Example

UBS is one of the best-capitalized financial institutions in the world, with invested assets of 2.2 trillion Swiss francs, shareholders equity of 35.4 billion Swiss francs and market capitalization of 95.4 billion Swiss francs. UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide, with offices in 50 countries. UBS employs 65,929 people, 40% of whom are located in Switzerland, 39% in the Americas, 15% in Europe and 6% in Asia. As an integrated firm, UBS creates added value for clients by drawing on the combined resources and expertise of all its businesses.

As an organization, UBS combines financial strength with a global culture that embraces change. In the 10 years before their merger, both banks had made a series of purchases to increase their investment banking presence. The most significant was the 1995 acquisition of SG Warburg, a venerable London investment-banking firm, by SBC. S.G. Warburg, was founded London in the 1930s and reached prominence after the Second World War. UBS strengths have traditionally lain in Europe. But the bank is seeking to raise its game in the US.

In the 1990s in the US, it acquired Dillon Read, a corporate finance specialist and OConnor, a derivatives specialist. In 2000 it acquired Paine Webber, a US Stock broker and investment bank for $10.8bn (€8.3bn, $5.7bn). UBS has also been boosting its US corporate finance and equities teams with additional hires. UBS has almost $2 trillion in personal and corporate assets invested, among the worlds largest asset pools. With acquisitions such as Sauerborn, UBS is pursuing a bold strategy that is not without risks.

It is expanding rapidly beyond its Swiss base. It is also taking on clients, such as those at Sauerborn, who had chosen not to put their wealth in the hands of a big institution and who may be skeptical about staying with a money manager as giant as UBS. But UBS figures if it can win the confidence of these top business families its position in Europes