ABSTRACT
The merged company, called UBS AG, had CHF1320 bn of client funds under management and total assets of over CHF1000 bn. In June 1998 the new UBS came into being. Mathis Cabiallavetta was Chairman and Marcel Ospel was CEO, and there were four divisions: private and corporate clients; asset management; private banking; investment banking; and private equity. In 1999 UBS acquired Global Asset Management for its private banking division. During 1999 it became increasingly clear that there was a fundamental problem with the asset management division of UBS. This was still called UBS Brinson but had a number of independent fiefdoms: the Phillips and Drew business in the UK was run pretty well independently. Indeed Phillips & Drew had suffered net client withdrawals of $12 bn and Brinson's US flagship equity fund for institutional investors had declined 3.8 per cent. UBS is an active participant in initiatives such as the investor/Chairman dinners and the NEDX masterclasses run by Sciteb.
