UBS won back the title of largest private bank in the world as inflows of fresh client funds surged last year, indicating restored confidence following the financial crisis, according to a study. The Swiss bank displaced Bank of America Corp from the top spot in an annual benchmark compiled by London-based wealth management consultant Scorpio Partnership. It edged out the U.S. bank with 9.7 percent growth in overall assets to $1.705 trillion, compared with 5.9 percent at Bank of America.The ranking is a coup for scandal-tarnished UBS, which in October said it would axe 10,000 staff and scale back its riskier investment banking division in favor of its private bank.Activist fund Knight Vinke in May launched a campaign to break up UBS, though a forecast-beating first quarter and the highest wealthy customer inflows in six years took some of the sting out of the shareholder's demands.Overall, private banks won 24 percent more net new money, which represents a dramatic turnaround. Financial providers to the wealthy had struggled to win back client confidence in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) is a bank holding company, and a financial holding company. Shares of BAC traded higher by 1.88% or $0.25/share to $13.53. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $6.90 and as high as $13.99. On average, 128282000 shares of BAC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 106009448.
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