UBS AG will restart investment banking operations in Brazil as early as next week, sources said, almost five years after Switzerland's biggest bank sold its highly profitable securities unit there following the global financial crisis. Two sources, who are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said on Friday that UBS and Brazil's central bank agreed on setting March 12 as the date to activate the investment-banking license.Sought for comment, UBS said it would continue to focus on wealth management, client solutions and its sales and trading business, including equity research, in Brazil.UBS lost its investment banking license in 2009 after selling Banco UBS Pactual back to its original owners, a group led by billionaire financier Andre Esteves. The sale price of$2.5 billion was about $600 million less than what the Swiss lender paid for the unit in 2006.Months after the UBS Pactual buyback, Esteves created Grupo BTG Pactual SA, which is now Latin America's largest independent investment bank.
UBS AG is a client-focused financial services company that offers a combination of wealth management, asset management and investment banking services on a global and regional basis. Shares of UBS fell by 0.61% or $-0.1307/share to $21.27. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $15.08 and as high as $21.61. On average, 2172800 shares of UBS exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2230037.
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