UBS

Eight months after Deutsche Bank AG settled a lawsuit claiming it manipulated gold and silver prices, documents it disclosed as part of the accord provide “smoking gun” proof that UBS Group AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, Bank of Nova Scotia and other firms rigged the silver market, plaintiffs claim.

The newly cited evidence was produced by Deutsche Bank after it reached a $38 million settlement in the case earlier this year. The plaintiffs said the evidence showed the new defendants engaged in collusive price manipulation.

UBS has announced on Thursday that it is launching a Frankfurt headquarters as it consolidates its European wealth management operations. The bank had been considering London, before its vote to leave the European Union, as the UBS Europe headquarters, as well as well Luxembourg.

The new subsidiary, called UBS Europe SE, combines the bank’s German, Italian, Luxembourg, Austrian, Danish, Swedish, Dutch and Spanish wealth management businesses into one legal entity headquartered in the german town. The new set-up is also part of efforts by UBS to streamline its structure as it looks to cut costs by a net 2.1 billion Swiss francs ($2.07 billion) by the end of 2017.

The Swiss UBS consumption index rose slightly to 1.49 for October from a downwardly-revised 1.47 previously, which was originally reported as 1.59.

The sizeable downward revision will cause some concerns and the index overall has not changed significantly over the past 3 months, although the overall impact will be limited.

Although positive developments in the automobile market and strong domestic tourism supported private consumption, the fall in retail sales prevented a strong growth. In September, the number of hotel stays of Swiss tourists climbed by 1%, the third successive increase.

UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, will increase the salaries of its employees in Switzerland up to and including the middle management by an aggregate 0.8%, the company said in a statement today.

"This overall result is the outcome of negotiations between employer and UBS employee delegations," the bank said in a statement.
The association of banking employees demanded an increase of 1.5% for 2017 and will not be happy about the decision by UBS, which acts as trendsetter for the industry.

The Swiss federal tax administration (FTA) decided not to appeal against a court decision to let UBS inspect files and receive information in a tax investigation by French tax authorities, FTA said on Monday.
Swiss law generally requires banks to automatically hand over client information without a right to be involved in such cases.

UBS and Credit Suisse send clear signals: cutting costs is the first step, possibly within the year.

Q3 results showed, in fact, that the two banks are still spending too much. UBS saw its revenue shrink losing revenue from the wealthy customers and restless showing on the face of trading. Income, in practice, have fallen faster than the process of reducing the part of the bank charges. Instead Credit Suisse had almost reached the target in 2016, but in the third quarter expenses were up 2%.

UBS and Amazon are teaming up to test a digital tool which could help investors to choose their financial strategy. The project is an endeavor by the UBS Wealth Innovation Lab in Zurich, led by Dave Bruno, the bank said in a statement on Thursday.
"Amazon Alexa" will be the digital voice of "Amazon Echo", an hands-free speaker, and will answer over financial questions made by customers. The iniziative will be tested on November with a "select group", the bank didn’t reveal other details.

Swiss bank UBS plans to incorporate its Mexico banking operations as part of efforts to improve the distribution of resources and reduce costs, according to an internal document seen by Reuters.

Brokerage UBS Casa de Bolsa will assume responsibility next year for operations that are made now by UBS Bank Mexico, according to a memo sent to employees on September 30.