In the fiercely contested family office space, UBS stands out because it already delivers what others are still building: an institutional-grade platform wrapped in a high-touch Swiss private banking model that is present at an unprecedented scale.
Backed by more than $4.5 trillion of invested assets, UBS’s specialised Global Family and Institutional Wealth (GFIW) engine is without doubt the most sophisticated family office franchise out there.
For family offices, that scale translates into a genuinely institutional toolkit. Unified Global Markets provides direct access to multi-asset trading across equities, rates, credit, FX, precious metals and commodities, supported by sales commentary, research and events via digital platforms such as UBS Neo and UBS Live Desk. Clients can trade with multiple counterparties while keeping custody at UBS, and can tap prime brokerage style capabilities, algorithmic execution and tools such as UBS Bond Port and KeyTrader for instant credit and futures liquidity.
But it is the two ‘one bank’ engines – Unified Global Banking and Unified Global Alternatives that really help UBS to stand out from the crowd. The former fuses corporate finance for privately held businesses with investment banking coverage, while the latter combines UBS’s private markets and hedge fund franchises into one of the world’s largest LP platforms, with roughly $307 billion in invested assets. For family office clients, these propositions extend the investment menu into M&A, capital markets and alternatives at scale.
All of those capabilities sit atop a balance sheet reinforced by Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio above 14%, giving family offices comfort that UBS benefits from safety as well as scale.
With unmatched global scale and breadth, we provide a platform designed not just to manage wealth but to unlock its full potential
Yves-Alain Sommerhalder
Meanwhile, the integration of Credit Suisse has added the equivalent of years of organic growth and helped push Global Wealth Management’s asset base towards $5 trillion. UBS’s relationship manager headcount, at just under 9,600 as of mid-2025, supports arguably the most concentrated pools of ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) and family office relationships in the industry.
UBS’s family office franchise is underpinned by industry leading insights. The Global Family Office Report 2025, featuring 317 family office clients with an average net worth of USD 2.7 billion and family offices managing USD 1.1 billion each, gives UBS rare visibility into how these structures think about asset allocation, risk, governance, technology and succession. It shows that family offices allocate roughly 44% to alternatives, 30% to equities and 18% to fixed income, with nearly 80% of their portfolios in North America and Western Europe. Those findings flow directly into CIO guidance, product development and GFIW engagement, so that advice reflects genuine peer practice rather than generic templates.
Not just a number
Community and connectivity are also crucial. UBS curates more than 300 conferences a year for institutional and family office clients, connecting principals and executives with policymakers, sector leaders and UBS specialists. Flagship gatherings such as the Global Family Office Summit bring together close to 300 family offices with an estimated $1 trillion of wealth.
Digital and artificial intelligence (AI) are key to making the bank’s family office model scalable, without sacrificing its high-touch ethos. Internally, GFIW uses a persona framework, data platforms and generative AI to map client interests, connect content consumption with holdings and events, and suggest targeted opportunities to coverage teams.
Succession, governance and sustainability round out the offering. The 2025 Global Family Office Report shows that just over half of families have a formal succession plan and that only 26% fully involve next-generation members from the outset, while 64% cite tax efficient wealth transfer and 43% preparing heirs to take on wealth responsibly as their main challenges. GFIW responds with wealth planning advice, single family office structuring and access to UBS’s Next Generation Solutions, philanthropy advisory and the UBS Optimus Foundation. This helps families align portfolios and giving with long-term purpose. Sustainability is embedded across advice, products and philanthropy, with many family offices now viewing it as a source of opportunity rather than purely a risk lens.
Perhaps most significantly, UBS’s family office franchise is not a bolt-on product shelf, but a fully institutionalised, cross-divisional system that delivers measurable business growth and demonstrable value to the most demanding and sophisticated of clients. In a year when many peers stepped up their ambitions in this space, UBS proved that it continues to set the pace in serving global family office clientele.
Yves-Alain Sommerhalder, head UBS GWM Solutions, says: “Global families and institutional clients choose UBS for the power of the integrated platform and approach. Our model brings together our global wealth management and investment banking capabilities to deliver sophisticated solutions across execution, investment, risk management and financing needs. All of which delivered seamlessly and tailored across the full spectrum of family wealth, entrepreneurial and corporate activities. With unmatched global scale and breadth, we provide a platform designed not just to manage wealth but to unlock its full potential.”
