UBS

Is UBS safe?

For most depositors, yes. UBS is one of the best-capitalised banks in this category, with a CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary of 14.4% at 30 June 2026 against a Swiss requirement of 10.83%, and a liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary of 177.3%. The limits are elsewhere. Swiss deposit insuranceDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary covers only CHF 100,000 per client, the bank needed state help in 2008, and since 2023 it carries the legal baggage of Credit Suisse. We score it 72/100.

The Credit Suisse rescue

In March 2023 Credit Suisse, then Switzerland's second-largest bank, suffered a run by wealthy clients and institutions. Over the weekend of 18 and 19 March the Swiss government, the Swiss National Bank and FINMA arranged for UBS to buy it for CHF 3 billion. The state offered UBS a CHF 9 billion guarantee against losses and the central bank provided emergency liquidity. FINMA wiped out CHF 16 billion of Credit Suisse's AT1 bonds. UBS ended the guarantee in August 2023 without using it.

Three years on, the integration is nearly complete. UBS finished moving former Credit Suisse client accounts onto its own systems in March 2026, and by June more than 90% of the old Credit Suisse applications were out of use.

The result is a single bank with about $1.7 trillion of assets, close to twice the size of the Swiss economy. That is why Swiss politicians want UBS to hold more capital. The government proposed that UBS fully back its foreign subsidiaries with CET1CET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary capital at the Swiss parent. On 23 September 2026 the upper house, the Council of States, voted for a 90% version instead, which UBS says would need about $16 billion of extra CET1. The lower house is unlikely to decide before 2027, and some investors have urged UBS to move its headquarters abroad. For depositors, more capital means more protection.

Capital and liquidity

Measure (30 June 2026)	UBS	Requirement
CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary	14.38%	10.83%
Going-concern capital ratio	19.05%	15.20%
Liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary	177.3%	100%
Net stable funding ratioNet stable funding ratioA bank's stable funding, such as capital and retail deposits, compared with the stable funding its assets need over one year. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary	115.1%	100%

The operating bank, UBS AG, is rated Aa2 by Moody's, A+ by S&P and AA- by Fitch, which moved its outlook to positive. UBS sits in bucket 2 of the FSB's G-SIBG-SIBA global systemically important bank: one of the large banks the Financial Stability Board lists each year because its failure could harm the world economy.More in the glossary list.

Swiss deposit protection is thinner

Esisuisse protects deposits up to CHF 100,000 per client and per legal entity. That is less generous than the UK's £120,000 or the €100,000 plus extra private cover in Germany at Deutsche Bank. The Swiss system also has a cap on the total it can pay out across all banks, which would be small next to UBS's deposit base. In practice, a failure of UBS would be handled through resolution, which is designed to impose losses on bondholders first, as happened with Credit Suisse's AT1 bonds.

Many UBS clients are wealthy and keep far more than CHF 100,000 in cash. For them the bank's own strength matters more than the scheme.

Crisis history and conduct

UBS was one of the worst-hit European banks in 2008. The Swiss government injected CHF 6 billion and the Swiss National Bank took over tens of billions of dollars of illiquid securities in a special fund. Both were repaid at a profit.

Conduct cases in the last decade include:

• 2019–2023: a French criminal case for illegally soliciting clients and laundering tax fraud proceeds. A Paris court imposed €4.5 billion in 2019; the appeal court cut the total to €1.8 billion in 2021, and France's top court ordered part of it retried in 2023.
• August 2023: $1.435 billion to the US Justice Department over mortgage-backed securities sold before 2008.
• 2023 onwards, inherited: Credit Suisse penalties, including a $268.5 million Federal Reserve fine over the Archegos losses (2023) and a May 2025 guilty plea by Credit Suisse Services AG with about $511 million in penalties for helping Americans hide more than $4 billion from US tax authorities.

What clients should check

1. Find out which legal entity holds your cash: UBS Switzerland AG, UBS AG, UBS Europe SE or UBS Bank USA each fall under a different scheme.
2. If you held accounts at both Credit Suisse and UBS in Switzerland, add them up. They now count as one bank for the CHF 100,000 limit.
3. Securities held in custody are segregated from the bank's own assets. Cash is not. For large cash balances, spreading money across unrelated banks reduces your exposure to any one of them.
4. Use UBS Access with biometrics, and treat calls asking you to "secure" assets by moving them as fraud.

How we scored it

Capital (85) and liquidity (88) are among the best in the category. Stability history (50) reflects the 2008 rescue, and conduct (40) is the weakest factor because of UBS's own penalties and those it inherited from Credit Suisse. Compare HSBC, which came through 2008 without state capital.