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There’s another issue that hangs like the sword of Damokles above the heads of the bank executive: the spying scandal surrounding wealth management co-head Iqbal Khan. Even if he has tried to keep out of the media – the investigative firm hired by Credit Suisse to follow in his tracks has accused him of serious misconduct in connection with the confrontation that took place in downtown Zurich.

Also, the attorney general in Zurich and the Swiss banking regulator pursue their independent investigations into the spygate scandal. The departure of Isabelle Romy from the board of UBS shows that the bank is trying to put clear blue water between itself and the scandal. Romy is married to Flavio Romerio, managing partner at Homburger law firm and head of the white collar and investigations team, which had been looking into events at Credit Suisse. Depending on the outcome of the various probes and on what they will unearth about Khan, he may be faster out of the door at UBS than expected.

5. Exclusive Wealth Management

The unit of Josef Stadler, which caters to the super rich, may have been cut to size recently, but at UBS the old credo is still valid: the richer the client, the better. The owners of some $5 billion in assets, which furthermore had outstanding loans worth $1 billion, had to learn the hard way.

Following an internal settlement of $73 million, the client books were moved from wealth management to personal & corporate – the Swiss business, where mortgages and pension fund savings are the daily bread and not private equity or luxury boat financing. Outside Switzerland, clients with assets below $500,000 are being advised separately since the last quarter.

6. U.S.: Waiting for Progress

The number of relationship managers declined by 300 full-time-equivalents over the past year, or 4.4 percent. And still, the bank didn't improve efficiency in the biggest wealth-management region – the cost-income ratio is steady at 88 percent.

The result of the departures are outflows of assets – in the fourth quarter they amounted to $9 billion –, which weighs on the bank's income. So despite attempts to restructure the U.S. business in Tom Naratil's home market, it hasn't yet managed to improve the returns from assets under management to rival the rest of the world.

The question remains whether the bank will be happy to stick with the handsome enough profit or whether the unit is in for a major overhaul similar to the one initiated by Naratil and Khan in Europe. Currently, the region is stagnating following years of ever growing profits.

 7: Waiting for the New Millionaire Product

The wealth management is regrouping its clients and high-net-worth customers (with assets from $500,000 to $5 million) will get a more digital service package. A less complicated modular service for the less complex needs, in other words.

How much technology will be used for the service is unclear. And equally so whether existing modules, for example the Swiss affluent-business modules, will be used.