UBS doesn’t plan to buy Credit Suisse or US firms: Kelleher

Paris: UBS Group AG doesn’t plan acquisitions in the US “in the foreseeable future” and has no intention to buy Credit Suisse Group AG, the bank’s Chairman Colm Kelleher told Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung.

UBS hasn’t yet realized its full potential in the US, Kelleher said in an interview published Saturday. “We need to get our wealth management business up and running and improve our margins there.”

“We will not expand the investment bank,” he said, adding that the unit can build on good equities trading but needs to improve its advisory business.

UBS is seeking more US institutional investors to buy the bank’s shares, according to Kelleher. To this end, the bank wants to get American analysts “to take a closer look at us” and is considering reporting the performance of its US businesses separately.

There is no reason for UBS to trade at a discount compared to US banks like Morgan Stanley, Kelleher said. “I would never have accepted the position of chairman if I didn’t believe that a higher valuation could be achieved and that this was a realistic goal.”