| Appeal of UBS Holding Co
Approval by Federal Reserve Bank with Banks on
Board like SVB
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SOUTH
BRONX/SDNY, Jan 28 –
Amid the FDIC's bid to
eliminate public notice of and
public comment on branch
applications, UBS -- Union
Bank of Switzerland -- is
moving to convert to a
national bank in the US and
become a bank holding company.
Despite a
November 11, 2025 formal
challenge by Fair Finance
Watch, Fed approval was doled
out on January 26, 2026 - by
the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York.
This while the
Fed has yet to provide
documents on Inner City Press'
FOIA request for any
safeguards the Fed has given
that it allows - puts - banks
on the boards of directors of
its Reserve Bank, which now
dole out approvals to banks.
The blatant and
costly conflict of interest on
Silicon Valley Bank, on the
FRBSF's board, was one thing -
still not addressed. Now the
massive UBS. FFW immediate
submitted, to the Board and
the FRBNY's Keith Goodwin, a
request for Board review
citing UBS impending
appearance on Capitol
Hill.
FFW filed for
Board review, and on January
28 the FRBNY wrote to UBS, "On
January 26, 2026, the
commenter filed a petition for
review with the Secretary of
the Board. Acting under
delegated authority, this
letter is to advise that
Applicants should not
consummate the proposal until
specifically authorized by the
Reserve Bank or by the Board.
The Board expects to decide
whether to review the Reserve
Bank’s delegated action within
10 calendar days of the date
of the delegated action, i.e.,
on or before February 5, 2026,
and will notify you of that
action."
On
November 11 Fair Finance Watch
filed opposition to the
Federal Reserve Board and to
the Office of the Comptroller
of the Currency:
Dear Chair Powell, Comproller Gould,
others
This is a
timely first comment on the applications by
UBS Group AG and UBS AG, both of Zurich,
Switzerland, and UBS Americas Holding LLC and
UBS Americas Inc to become bank holding
companies by acquiring UBS Bank USA, Salt Lake
City, Utah, upon the conversion of UBS Bank
USA from a state-chartered industrial bank to
a national bank.
UBS, beyond its involvement in predatory
subprime lending - see, e.g., "UBS to pay $300
million to resolve US mortgage securities
cases," August 4, 2025 - has numerous other
compliance scandal on which public hearings
should be held, on this application and
possible plan to relocate to the
US.
There is tax evasion and retaliation against
whisteblowers: “France: UBS fined in France
for harassing whistleblowers”, 10 March 2025
The Swiss bank UBS was fined €75,000
(CHF71,410), the maximum penalty, in Paris on
Monday for moral harassment by its French
subsidiary of two whistleblowers, who had
denounced the tax evasion system organised by
the bank. UBS Europe, which absorbed the
French branch, was also ordered to pay €50,000
in damages to Nicolas Forissier, the former
head of internal auditing. However, the bank
was acquitted of witness tampering and
obstructing the health, safety and working
conditions committee. According to Forissier’s
lawyer, William Bourdon, this is the first
time in France that a whistleblower has
obtained a conviction against his former
employer. … At the hearing, the public
prosecutor had requested a maximum fine of
€225,000 for the three offences.
There are human rights - and managerial -
issues: the Society for Threatened Peoples
Switzerland (STP) filed a specific instance
against UBS Group AG (UBS) at the Swiss NCP.
The complaint concerns the bank’s financial
ties with Hangzhou Hikvision Digital
Technology Co. Ltd. (Hikvision), a provider of
modern surveillance technology that has played
a key role in the mass surveillance of the
Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in
Xinjiang, China. Also involving
private prisons in the US.
(On
November 25 UBS through Sullivan &
Cromwell submitted a dismissive response,
stating
that " FFW criticizes UBS for
business relationships with
certain clients (e.g., private
prisons).
There
are managerial factor issues, particularly on
an initial application to become a US
bank holding company. Fair Finance Watch
hereby timely requests hearings, and the
denial of these UBS applications.
The denial was by a
conflicted Reserve Bank.
See, e.g., Sept
10, 2025: https://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/the-fdic-is-undercutting-a-key-element-of-the-cra
But now the
Federal regulator(s) blithely
propose(s) to eliminate public
notice and public comment on
banks' proposals to expand -
and the Fed doles out
approvals through conflicted
Reserve Banks. The
above-quoted reasoning is that
few comments are filed. So,
that is now changing.
***
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