UBS Business Model Canvas

UBS actively cultivates relationships within academic and innovation ecosystems to drive forward-thinking solutions and secure a steady stream of talent. This strategic approach involves collaborating with universities and innovation hubs, particularly focusing on STEM fields, to nurture entrepreneurship and ensure a robust pipeline of skilled professionals. For instance, UBS's partnership with EPFL and its investment in the Tenity Incubation Fund, which supported over 200 startups by mid-2024, directly contribute to expanding UBS's fintech network and aligning cutting-edge ideas with evolving client demands.

UBS strategically partners with fintech innovators, technology providers, and academic institutions to drive digital transformation and innovation. These collaborations, such as investments in GIST Impact and partnerships with CERN for quantum computing research, are crucial for enhancing client services and modernizing infrastructure. By engaging with ecosystems like EPFL and supporting over 200 startups through the Tenity Incubation Fund by mid-2024, UBS ensures a pipeline of talent and cutting-edge ideas.

UBS Asset Management offers a broad spectrum of investment solutions, encompassing equities, fixed income, and alternative investments. They cater to both large institutions and individual investors, aiming to grow their assets through careful portfolio management and attracting new capital, known as net inflows.

In 2024, UBS Asset Management continued to focus on generating net inflows across its diverse product offerings. The division's profitability is significantly driven by the fees earned from managing these assets and achieving specific investment performance targets.

Key activities for UBS revolve around managing and growing its Global Wealth Management business, which includes providing advice and investment solutions to high-net-worth clients. Additionally, the firm's investment banking arm is vital, offering advisory services for mergers and acquisitions and underwriting capital markets transactions. The bank also leverages its trading capabilities across various global markets to generate revenue.

Furthermore, UBS Asset Management focuses on attracting net inflows and managing assets across a wide range of investment strategies for institutional and individual investors. A significant ongoing activity is the integration of Credit Suisse, which involves streamlining operations and winding down non-core assets to enhance efficiency and reduce risk.

UBS leverages proprietary digital platforms and an advanced IT infrastructure as core resources. These technological foundations are crucial for streamlining operations and delivering a superior client experience, particularly through digital-first services. The firm's commitment to innovation is further demonstrated by its significant investments in emerging technologies.

A prime example of this investment is UBS's active acceleration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption across the entire organization. This strategic focus on AI is designed to foster innovative product development and enhance the efficiency of its services. By integrating AI, UBS aims to remain at the forefront of technological advancements in the financial services sector, ensuring it can meet evolving client needs and market demands.

UBS's key resources include its substantial financial capital, with a CET1 capital ratio indicating strong financial health. Its USD 6.6 trillion in invested assets as of Q2 2025 highlights market presence and client trust. A robust balance sheet enables risk absorption and strategic investments, supporting capital distributions.

UBS offers financial stability and security, a cornerstone for its clients. As a globally systemically important bank, it boasts a strong capital position, evidenced by its CET1 ratio, which remained robust throughout 2023, providing a solid foundation. This inherent stability is particularly attractive to high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors seeking a reliable partner.

The assurance of security stems from UBS's highly fortified and resilient balance sheet. This resilience is crucial in navigating market volatility, offering clients peace of mind. For instance, UBS's commitment to prudent risk management and its diversified business model contribute significantly to this sense of security, a key differentiator in the financial services landscape.

UBS provides a holistic financial ecosystem, offering a single point of contact for wealth management, investment banking, asset management, and personal and corporate banking. This integrated approach simplifies financial management for clients, allowing them to address all their financial needs through one trusted institution.

Clients gain access to expertly tailored financial advice, leveraging UBS's extensive global network and deep market insights. This synergy enables the creation of customized strategies that adeptly navigate both individual financial circumstances and the complexities of international markets.

UBS is committed to delivering personalized advice, solutions, and products that directly support clients in achieving their financial goals. In 2024, over 80% of UBS's wealth management clients engaged with personalized financial planning services, underscoring the firm's dedication to tailored client engagement.

UBS ensures financial stability and security for its clients. As a globally systemically important bank, it maintains a strong capital position, demonstrated by its robust CET1 ratio throughout 2023, offering a reliable foundation for investors.

UBS proactively engages clients through consistent communication, offering valuable market insights and research reports. This keeps clients well-informed, enabling smarter financial choices. For instance, UBS Global Wealth Management's Chief Investment Office regularly publishes outlooks detailing future investment trends.

UBS maintains strong customer relationships through a multi-faceted approach, blending personalized advisory services with robust digital platforms. This hybrid model ensures clients receive tailored support while benefiting from convenient self-service options. The firm's focus on proactive communication and client feedback further solidifies these connections, driving loyalty and satisfaction.

UBS leverages dedicated financial advisors and relationship managers as a core channel, particularly for its high-net-worth and institutional clientele. These professionals offer highly personalized guidance, acting as a direct conduit to UBS's extensive suite of financial products and services. This approach is fundamental to delivering a premium, white-glove experience, ensuring clients receive tailored advice and solutions.

This direct interaction model is crucial for scaling specialized service. In 2024, UBS continued to emphasize this channel, recognizing that for clients with significant assets, the human element of advice and relationship building is paramount. This personal touch facilitates deeper engagement and trust, enabling advisors to understand and address complex financial needs effectively.

UBS employs a multi-channel strategy, blending digital accessibility with personalized human interaction. Their extensive branch network, particularly in wealth management, provides a physical touchpoint, complemented by robust online and mobile platforms for everyday banking and trading. Dedicated financial advisors are crucial for high-net-worth clients, fostering deep relationships and offering tailored advice.

The investment banking and trading desks serve as vital channels for institutional clients, facilitating complex transactions and advisory services. Marketing efforts, heavily weighted towards digital and content-driven campaigns like 'Life's Questions,' aim to build brand trust and reach a wider audience. These diverse channels collectively support UBS's global operations and client engagement strategies.

UBS is strategically focusing on affluent clients, especially in the United States, by refining its wealth management approach with distinct regional units. This move is designed to better serve individuals with significant assets who demand personalized financial advice and sophisticated digital tools for managing and growing their wealth.

The bank's revamped strategy aims to secure a more substantial portion of the affluent market, recognizing their need for bespoke services that cater to complex financial situations and long-term wealth objectives. This includes leveraging technology to enhance client experience and advisory capabilities.

In 2023, UBS reported that its wealth management business saw a significant increase in net new assets, particularly from its global ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth client segments, underscoring the success of its targeted approach.

UBS serves a diverse clientele, from ultra-high-net-worth individuals seeking bespoke wealth management to high-net-worth individuals requiring sophisticated investment advice. The bank's strategic focus on affluent clients, particularly in the US, highlights a commitment to personalized service and advanced digital tools.

Corporate clients, ranging from large multinationals to SMEs, depend on UBS for comprehensive banking services like treasury solutions, trade finance, and corporate lending. UBS's deep penetration into the Swiss market, serving over 85% of the top 1,000 corporations, underscores its role in facilitating business finance.

Institutional clients, including pension funds and governments, benefit from UBS's sophisticated asset management and investment banking expertise. The bank's significant market share, evidenced by serving one in three Swiss pension funds in 2024, demonstrates its capability in managing large-scale financial needs.

The ongoing integration of Credit Suisse into UBS is a major driver of costs, with significant expenses tied to merging IT systems, harmonizing operational processes, and restructuring the combined organization. These integration-related expenditures represent a substantial portion of UBS's overall cost structure.

UBS has set an ambitious target to achieve more than $10 billion in cost savings through this integration. This initiative is crucial for realizing the full financial benefits of the acquisition and improving the profitability of the enlarged group.

UBS's cost structure is dominated by personnel expenses, technology investments, and significant integration costs from the Credit Suisse acquisition. The company is actively pursuing over $10 billion in cost savings through this integration, aiming to optimize its operational footprint.

In Q1 2025, UBS reported operating expenses of $10.32 billion, reflecting ongoing investments in its global operations and digital transformation initiatives. The company's workforce stood at 124,000 employees in Q2 2025, a slight decrease indicating efficiency efforts.

UBS generates significant income through asset management fees, encompassing both net management fees and performance fees. These fees are levied on the investment portfolios they manage for a broad range of institutional and private clients across diverse asset classes.

In the first quarter of 2025, the Asset Management division demonstrated resilience. Despite a 4% overall decline in total revenues for the company, this specific segment saw its profit before tax increase by a notable 15%, highlighting effective cost management and strong fee generation.

UBS's revenue streams are diverse, encompassing fees from wealth management, investment banking activities, and asset management. Additionally, net interest income from banking operations and income generated from lending products form significant components of its financial performance.