Swiss Bank Corporation

Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) (German: Schweizerischer Bankverein (SBV), French:Societe de Banque Swiss(SBS), Italian:Societa di Banca Svizzera) was a large intergrated financial services company located in Switzerland. Prior to its merger, the bank was the 3^rd largest in Switzerland with over 300 billion CHF of assets and 11.7 billion CHF of equity.

Throughout the 1990s, SBC engaged in large growth initiative, shifting its focus from traditional commercial banking into investment banking in an effort to match its larger Swiss rival credit issue. As part of this strategy, SBC acquired US based investment bank Dillion Read & Co. as well as London based merchant bank S.G.Warburg in the mid 1990s. SBC also acquired Chicago based Brinson Partners and O’Connor & Associates. These acquisitions formed the basis for a global investment banking business.

In 1998, SBC merged with Union Bank of Switzerland to form UBS, the largest bank in Europe and second largest bank in the world. The Company’s logo, which featured three keys, symbolizing “confidence, security, and discretion”, was adopted by UBS after the 1988 merger. Although the combination of two banks was billed as the merger of equals, it quickly became evident that from a management perspective, it was SBC that was buying UBS as nearly 80% top management positions were filled by legacy Swiss bank professionals. Today, what was SBC forms the core of many of UBS’s businesses, particularly UBS Investment Bank.

History:

Swiss Bank Corporation traces its history to 1854. In that year, six private banking firms in Basel, Switzerland, pooled their resources to form the Bankverein, a consortium that acted as an underwriting for its member banks. Among the original member banks were Bischoff zu St Alban, Ehinger & Cie; J.Merian Forcart, Passavant & Cie; J.Riggenbach and Von Speyr & Cie. The establishment of joint stock banks in swirzerland such as Swiss Bank’s earliest predecessors (often structured as a Swiss Verein) was driven by the industrialization of the country and the construction of railroads in the mid 19^th century.