UBS spending over £830m on IT system overhaul
Swiss private bank UBS is spending around 1bn Swiss francs (£831m) on an overhaul of its IT system.
The group wants to standardise the IT platform across its flagship wealth management business and said the investment will ultimately save money.
"This is about integrating our historically fragmented infrastructure that we have globally into one platform," UBS' chief operating officer for wealth management, Dirk Klee, told Reuters.
"So we want to have the same processes, the same way of approaching UBS and we also want to raise synergies and scale in the back office."
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Klee said a standardised IT system will make it easier to launch new digital offerings, including its online wealth management platform, SmartWealth.
A pilot programme for SmartWealth in Britain was announced last week – if successful, Klee said, UBS will roll it out in other markets, including major markets in Europe and Asia Pacific.
UBS' wealth mangement business took a hit earlier this year, causing profits to tumble in the first quarter – and it warned the uncertainty causing clients to be more risk-averse was unlikely to be resolved in the near future.
Meanwhile, the company recently hired Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, lawyer and wife of the former deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.