Wealthy Clients Flee UBS
January 11th, 2010Via: Bloomberg:
UBS AG Chief Executive Officer Oswald Gruebel said it’s “imperative” the largest Swiss bank halt withdrawals by wealthy clients after six quarters of net outflows.
“In wealth management it is imperative that we stop the outflow of assets and increase the inflow,” Gruebel said today in a memo to staff obtained by Bloomberg News. “We ourselves must not give clients any reason to leave the bank.”
Net redemptions by wealthy clients at UBS accelerated in the third quarter, bringing the total to 182.9 billion francs ($180 billion) over 18 months and undermining profit at the bank’s biggest division. Gruebel and Chairman Kaspar Villiger, who both joined UBS last year, said in a letter to shareholders in November they don’t expect “an immediate recovery” in client inflows.
