How should UBS use digital products to grow its US wealth management business?

Introduction

UBS's US wealth management business, run as part of Global Wealth Management Americas, has thousands of financial advisors and serves high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth households. Its profit margins have lagged peers such as Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, and leadership has repeatedly said that improving US profitability is a priority. UBS has invested in advisor tools such as client-intelligence alerts that brief advisors before meetings, and reports describe it securing a US national bank charter to offer more banking products directly. The prompt asks how UBS should use digital products to grow its US wealth business. This is a hard strategy question because it mixes product, advisor economics, banking and regulation.

Step 1

Clarify the Strategic Goals (3-4 minutes)

• Is the goal more clients, more assets per client, or better margins?

• Hypothetical answer: Primarily better margins and net new assets; client count matters less.

• Which client segments are in scope?

• Hypothetical answer: High-net-worth (USD 1–10 million) and ultra-high-net-worth households; the mass-affluent segment is a secondary consideration.

• What happened with past digital bets?

• Hypothetical answer: UBS's planned acquisition of Wealthfront was called off in 2022, so leadership is cautious about buying a direct-to-consumer platform.

• What is the time frame?

• Hypothetical answer: Three to five years.

Strategic goal: Raise US wealth management pre-tax margin and net new assets by making advisors more productive and by capturing more of each client's banking and lending wallet through digital products.