UBS has obtained a national banking license in the US marking a key step in its efforts to expand wealth management in the world’s largest economy.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) approved UBS’s application for a national bank charter, Reuters reported, allowing the bank to offer the full range of services provided by US lenders, including checking accounts, savings accounts and mortgages.

“This will strengthen our momentum in the US and it reinforces our ambition to lead as a premier global wealth manager,”

said Rob Karofsky, President of UBS Americas.

UBS applied to convert its US entity, UBS Bank USA, into a nationally chartered bank. Brian Carlin, head of global wealth management US, said the charter would allow the bank to expand both its client base and services, although the rollout would take time.

UBS considers the US, where more than 1,000 people become millionaires daily, its most important growth market in wealth management.

However, UBS remains less profitable than leading US banks such as Morgan Stanley and faces challenges in rebuilding the US business after losing billions in client assets and nearly 200 financial advisers, analysts and industry sources told Reuters.

The need to strengthen the US operations has grown since UBS acquired Credit Suisse following its collapse in 2023, amid a Swiss government drive to make the banking sector less risky.

Proposed new regulations could impose higher capital requirements, which UBS has criticised as excessive, warning they could disadvantage the bank.

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