The financial establishment banked on a Hillary Clinton victory. Her close ties to Wall Street may have come back to haunt her – one Swiss bank in particular was in focus.

Donald Trump’s victory is an unpleasant surprise for Wall Street, which had factored in the political status quo continuing under Hillary Clinton – a bet which went horribly wrong.

On the contrary, Hillary Clinton’s long and close relationship with Wall Street has come back to bite, which ultimately benefited the populist Trump.

Clinton’s relationship to one Swiss bank in particular stands out: UBS. The ties deepened considerably in 2009, when UBS faced a criminal investigation which threatened its very existence.

Clinton met with the Swiss foreign secretary at the time, Micheline Calmy-Rey, who impressed upon her U.S. counterpart that UBS would face near-certain death by criminal charges if the bank didn't hand over client data, which Swiss law prohibits.

UBS Relief

Several months later, Clinton's intervention proved successful: the Swiss bank settled the investigation by handing over thousands of customer files, admitting wrong-doing, and paying a $780 million fine.

What Clinton, a former New York state Senator who is acutely aware of Wall Street's importance to the U.S. economy, and her Swiss counterpart discussed isn't known, but it was only one chapter in a long-standing relationship with UBS.

What is clear is that UBS began upping donations to a Clinton family charitable foundation, which were less than $60,000 through 2008, to a total of roughly $600,000 by the end of 2014, according to reporting by «The Wall Street Journal».

UBS' Clinton Program Loan

The bank also lent $32 million through a program to promote entrepreneurship and inner-city loans, and paid former president Bill Clinton $1.5 million for question-and-answer sessions with former UBS brokerage head Bob McCann. 

UBS didn't comment on the charitable donations or speeches, which aren't uncommon for former presidents. What is unusual is the high degree of overlap between the Clintons' political and personal activities, which may have hobbled Clinton's efforts and put her judgement into question.

The timing of corporate donations, like a $900,000 one from Boeing, to the Clintons' foundation shortly after the aviation firm won a key contract from Russia with then secretary of state Hillary Clinton's help is also questionable.

Missteps like these have led to her being viewed as America's corporate darling and less a champion of the vanishing middle class, the «New York Observer», which is published by Trump's son-in-law, has pointed out. 

Clinton and Wall Street

Hillary Clinton's cozying up to Wall Street in general isn't new: she was roundly criticised for paid behind-the-scenes remarks to Goldman Sachs bankers which appeared to sympathise with the financial services industry over regulation, a bugbear for banks since the financial crisis of 2008-09.

For UBS' part, it has also maintained close ties to Clinton indirectly as well as directly. Teneo, a firm co-founded by a former close associate to Bill Clinton, has long been a communications advisor to the Swiss bank. Teneo, which arranged the Bill Clinton-Bob McCann appearance, employed various close Clinton associates such as Huma Abedin and even the former president himself as honorary chairman for a time, according to «Politico».

Former UBS banker Robert Wolf presents another long-time tie between the Clintons and the Swiss bank. Wolf is a prominent Obama fundraiser who told «The Hill» he wouldn't do much fundraising for Clinton – because she already enjoys the trust of Wall Street and the business community.

This is undoubtedly true for at least one major Swiss bank, and may have wreaked vengeance on Nov. 8.