\n Employee accounts, crypto trials and job cuts frame a pivotal year for the Swiss lender.\n <\/p>\n
UBS<\/a> is preparing to test everyday banking products with its own US workforce before extending a full-service banking offering to its wealthiest American clients, according to the Financial Times.<\/p>\n It reported that the Swiss bank intends to open accounts for US employees as soon as December, using the internal rollout to fine-tune pricing and product design ahead of a wider launch to wealth management<\/a> clients from mid-2027.<\/p>\n The initiative represents the opening stage of a broader ambition to turn UBS into a full-service bank for affluent Americans, building on the national banking licence the firm secured earlier this year<\/a>, when US regulators approved UBS Bank USA’s conversion to a nationally chartered bank.<\/p>\n UBS has not commented on the reported banking pilot. \u00a0<\/p>\n Taking on Wall Street’s biggest names<\/p>\n Holding that charter puts UBS in more direct competition with established US players including Morgan Stanley<\/a> and Bank of America<\/a>, both of which have used their banking arms to boost returns from wealth management.<\/p>\n It allows UBS to provide cheque and savings accounts, mortgages and other credit products, bundled together with investment advice, something it has not previously been able to do in the US.<\/p>\n Wealth management co-heads Iqbal Khan and Karofsky have made the American banking push a central pillar of their growth agenda, alongside Khan’s counterpart Karofsky steering the firm’s day-to-day US strategy.<\/p>\n UBS’s Americas wealth management arm brought in $12.2bn in revenue last year, yet it remains the group’s weakest-performing region by profitability, with a pre-tax margin below 13%, against Morgan Stanley’s 29% margin in wealth management over the same period, the FT reported.<\/p>\n The division also lost close to $6bn in net assets during 2025 amid advisor departures linked to unhappiness over changes to compensation. Momentum has since turned, with the unit pulling in $5.3bn of net new money in the first quarter of this year.<\/p>\n That improvement came alongside a strong start to 2026 for UBS group-wide. First-quarter net profit attributable to shareholders rose 80% year over year to $3.04 billion<\/a>, with group revenue up 13% to $14.24bn. Global wealth management alone generated $7.1bn in revenue, up 11%, with pre-tax profit climbing 32% to $1.79bn and net new assets of $37.4bn for the quarter.<\/p>\n Chief executive Sergio Ermotti said the bank remained “on track to deliver on our financial objectives for 2026.”<\/p>\n Targeting the wealthy<\/p>\n UBS is aiming the new banking push at a segment slightly below its traditional ultra-wealthy base, targeting clients holding between $2mn and $10mn in investable assets.<\/p>\n The bank estimates it serves around 700,000 US households in total, with roughly $150bn currently held in deposits at rival banks such as JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, cash the firm hopes the new charter will help pull onto its own platform.<\/p>\n The push into everyday banking comes as UBS explores other ways to widen its product shelf.<\/p>\n The bank has been considering opening crypto trading to private banking clients in Switzerland<\/a>, working for months on selecting partners for a digital asset offering that would initially let select Swiss clients buy and sell bitcoin and ether, with a possible later rollout to markets including the US.<\/p>\n Cost cuts elsewhere<\/p>\n The US expansion is moving forward even as UBS remains locked in a dispute with the Swiss government over proposed increases to its capital requirements, introduced in response to the 2023 collapse of Credit Suisse<\/a>.<\/p>\n