Dan Kitwood
UBS (NYSE:UBS) Chairman Colm Kelleher is seeking merger and acquisitions opportunities in the United States in coming years, Swiss newspaper NZZ reported on Sunday.
The Swiss financial giant, which last year took over rival Credit Suisse, wants to expand its U.S. wealth-management business through potential M&A in three or four years, he said.
Following the takeover of Credit Suisse, UBS (UBS) has been criticized because of its balance sheet of more than $1.6 trillion, which is about twice the size of the Swiss economy. UBS’s (UBS) size has pushed Switzerland to scrutinize regulation of banks that are deemed systemically important to the economy.
Kelleher has rejected calls for higher capital requirements.
“If you have too much capital, you penalize the shareholders, but also the customers because banking services become more expensive,” he said to NZZ.
Kelleher, an Irishman from County Cork, became chairman of UBS (UBS) in 2022. He previously worked at U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley (MS) for about three decades.