UBS files application for U.S. banking license, eyeing growth

ZURICH — UBS has filed an application for a national banking license in the United States, the Swiss bank said Monday, underlining its growth ambition for the U.S. market.

In a memo to UBS staff seen by Reuters, Rob Karofsky, the president of UBS Americas, and Michael Camacho, head of UBS Global Wealth Management US, said the bank had filed its application for a National Bank Charter for UBS Bank USA.

“This step is part of our long-term goal to build on UBS’s status as a premier global wealth manager in the U.S. and invest in areas that will drive growth,” the memo states.

If granted, the license would allow UBS to match the full range of services offered by U.S. banks, including checking accounts, savings accounts and mortgages.

The bank said it anticipated approval in 2026, subject to regulators. If granted, UBS would be the first Swiss bank to obtain such a license in the United States.

The memo said the application did not signal immediate product launches, but paved the way for future steps. New product and service development is a complex process lasting years that will roll out in phases, the bank said.

The United States, where more than 1,000 people became millionaires every day in 2024, is UBS’s most important growth market in its core wealth management business.

However, the bank is less profitable than leading U.S. providers like Morgan Stanley, a gap UBS aims to narrow.

UBS has the cost base of a much larger organisation but lacks the product offering to fully exploit its potential, CEO Sergio Ermotti said in 2024.

Wealth management in the U.S. is a scale business, UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher said late last year, noting that Morgan Stanley managed to double its profitability after it bought U.S. financial services firm Smith Barney.