Swiss banking giant UBS Group AG is exploring various ways to offer its wealthy clients the possibility of investing in digital assets, anonymous sources claim. A new report from BNN Bloomberg suggests that investment opportunities in cryptocurrencies will remain limited to “a very small portion of the clients’ total wealth” due to concerns over the volatility of the crypto markets. 

UBS CEO Ralph Hamers is supportive of digitization. 

UBS CEO Ralph Hamers, who replaced Sergio Ermotti last year, has a reputation for being strong on digitalization and automation. Hamers was CEO at ING Group from 2013 to 2020, where his record was mixed. According to the Bloomberg report, unnamed sources claim that the Swiss firm’s plans suggest that investments in crypto assets via third-party investment vehicles could be one of the options open to clients. Many praised the new CEO’s modernization and profitability drive yet also criticized his tenure after the bank was charged with allowing hundreds of millions of euros to be laundered via its accounts between 2010 and 2016. 

UBS CEO stressed the need to meet “clients’ digital expectations.”

UBS CEO Ralph Hamers has this year stressed the need to meet “clients’ digital expectations,” particularly in the immediate aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. A critic of central banks’ loose monetary policies, Hamers is focusing on technology investments at UBS and has shifted to a quarterly allocation to technology projects instead of the firm’s previous strategy of fixed funding on an annual basis. Bloomberg’s sources have alleged that the Swiss bank is concerned it will lose clients if it does not step up to offer them investment opportunities in digital assets. Earlier, banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and BNY Mellon all deepened their involvement in the digital assets sphere this year.