Good morning Nashville: The UBS hub in Tenessee.Image: KEYSTONE
As of last week, UBS became the first foreign bank to have a national American banking license. It strives for greater growth and success in its US business and takes significant risks.
Mar 23, 2026, 8:04 p.mMar 23, 2026, 8:04 p.m
UBS is now also a real US bank. As of last week, it became the first foreign bank in America with the privilege of selling everyday banking services across the country. A privilege? Sure, UBS America boss Rob Karofsky appears “enthusiastic” in a PR video on Linkedin about the new possibilities in which UBS can now initiate “the next phase of growth” in the USA.
But the UBS manager is celebrating the “milestone” at a moment when Swiss politicians have to discuss and decide which capital regulations they should use to regulate UBS’s foreign expansion so that the major accidents that are dangerous for the whole of Switzerland cannot be repeated.
UBS’s credo is now clear: growth. This should finally make US business more profitable. From now on, American customers will no longer lack anything. Salary account, credit cards, investment advice, mortgage – UBS wants to become the house bank for all wealthy households in America. This puts it in direct competition with the top dogs.
The power of advisors
Of course, UBS has been serving upper middle-class American clients for more than 25 years. For this purpose, it took over Paine Webber, the fourth largest broker at the time. But the acquisition, which cost almost 18 billion francs, never met the buyer’s expectations. To this day, Paine Webber has remained a platform for investment advisors who, in principle, manage their client base on their own account. The consultants collect the lion’s share of the proceeds. If UBS tries to change the distribution key to its own advantage, the advisors and the customers switch to the competition.
UBS is now a real US bank.Image: KEYSTONE
The bank could perhaps escape the dilemma if it granted more loans. Financial advisors cannot decide autonomously about the granting of loans. The bank could get involved and make itself indispensable for the advisors and their customers. But the established US addresses dominate the American credit market. An outsider like UBS can only break into their phalanx if it offers customers better credit conditions than the competition. UBS would have to buy its market share with greater risks.
There is no major European bank that has achieved such success in America and has been able to establish itself as a real alternative to local banks among the upper middle class. But UBS believes it has found a robust model for a comeback 17 years after its own Waterloo in the US mortgage bond business.
But the environment speaks against it. American household debt has increased by 30 percent in the past five years. In the case of home loans, the growth even amounted to almost 35 percent. At the same time, the number of debtors who are in default on their loans is increasing. Households from higher income brackets are increasingly being affected.
In addition, the deregulation train is in full swing in the USA. A lot of lending business has moved to the shadow banking sector in recent years. Regulators want to bring it back to the more transparent banking sector. In order for this to happen, the capital regulations at banks are being relaxed. Competition and price wars are increasing.
Blocher wants the exit
The Swiss Parliament will have to take all of this into account when it soon discusses the Federal Council’s proposal, according to which systemically important banks in Switzerland must back their foreign subsidiaries 100 percent with common equity. UBS speaks of “excessive” regulation. The roughly 26 billion francs that would be needed would put them at a massive disadvantage in international competition.
Christoph Blocher wants UBS to separate its US business.Image: Andrea Zahler
The authorities say the capital issue would only make expanding foreign business more expensive – an intended effect. SVP heavyweight Christoph Blocher believes neither one nor the other and wants UBS to separate its US business. After decades of experience, it is clear to him: Swiss banks do not master the specific risks of US business. UBS itself sees itself in a position to do this. But in doing so, the bank in America is challenging its luck. Already for the second time. The first time, the state had to save the bank. (aargauerzeitung.ch)