UBS is investing in legacy tech transformation and AI to improve client experience and back-end operations.  

“Our flagship AI platform delivers timely and personalized client insights for our financial advisers,” Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said during the bank’s first-quarter earnings call today. “Nearly 90% of [financial adviser] teams use the platform, powering millions of AI-driven client interactions.”

The $1.6 trillion bank rolled out UBS Red or UBS AI Assistant in 2024 and is expected to be rolled out for the entire organization this year, according to the bank’s earnings report. The tool has been in a phased roll out plan since its launch. 

The platform, built in partnership with Microsoft Azure, provides: 

• Instant, contextual access to institutional knowledge; 

• Multilingual support for advisers to engage with clients; and 

• Adviser productivity tools for market research and accessing client insights before conversations. 

Cyber-risks 

While UBS is investing in AI for back-end operations, it also is keeping a close eye on evolving cyberthreats driven by novel tech like gen AI, Ermotti said.  

“We have been going through two years of uncertainty around this topic, and by now is something that is almost embedded in the way we have to operate and accept it as a modus operandi,” Ermotti said. “We have to really think about what is the best things for the bank for the next five, 10, 20 years, not what is good for the next few quarters.” 

 “We are investing a lot of resources, technology, but also human resources to really identify the best way to protect our assets, our clients’ assets and the data,” he said. 

The Zurich-based bank is working with its technology partners to be as prepared as possible for AI-driven cyber threats, from individual actors or nation states, he said. The bank has  AI policies that include risk appetite metrics and controls to mitigate these risks. 

AI to fight cybercrime 

Implementing tools to fight gen AI-driven is half the battle  in addressing cyberthreats, Aaron Momin, chief information security officer at cybersecurity and payments fraud company Synechron, told FinAi News. 

 FIs should evaluate cyberthreat solutions by focusing on three factors, Momin said: 

• Can it neutralize threats fast enough to matter?  

• Does it align with governance and regulatory requirements?  

• Can it integrate with existing infrastructure without requiring a complete rebuild? 

“Institutions also need to determine which decisions require a human in the loop for validation versus autonomous action based, on their risk threshold,” he said. “The business case often becomes clearer when you quantify the cost of delayed response or successful breaches against the investment in AI-powered defenses.” 

BY THE NUMBERS: In Q1, UBS reported: 

• Net profit of $3 billion, up 79.7% year over year; 

• Operating expense, which includes tech spend, of $10.3 billion, relatively flat; and 

• Headcount of 101,549, down 4.9% YoY. 

Register here for the FinAi Lending Summit, set for Oct. 7-8 in Las Vegas.