UBS is spending about 1 billion francs to overhaul the IT platform of its wealth management business in a bid to integrate the infrastructure.
The 1-billion-franc-project involves more than 1,400 employees and will run through 2018, Dirk Klee, the chief operating officer at UBS wealth management, told «Reuters».
«This is about integrating our historically fragmented infrastructure that we have globally into one platform,» Klee said, according to the report.
Cost Cuts
«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,» Klee added. He didn't specify the expected savings. The changes affect wealth management globally, outside the U.S.
UBS several months ago said it wanted to save hundreds of millions by adopting a new structure and cutting jobs at wealth management. The Zurich-based bank as a whole aims to reduce costs by 2.1 billion francs by the end of 2017.
Global Projects
The unified IT-platform will make it easier for the bank to distribute new digital service globally. An example of which being the online wealth-management product set to be launched in the U.K. at the beginning of 2017.
If this project proves successful in the U.K., the Swiss giant is likely to offer it to customers in larger European markets and in Asia, Klee said.
