Swiss Bank Corp.
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| Acquired | |
| Industry |
Banking Financial services Investment services |
| Fate | Merged with Union Bank of Switzerland to form UBS |
| Predecessor | Bankverein (1854–1872) Basler Bankverein (1872–1895) Basler & Zürcher Bankverein (1895) |
| Successor | UBS |
| Defunct | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Basel, Switzerland |
Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) (German: Schweizerischer Bankverein (SBV), French: Société de Banque Suisse (SBS), Italian:Società di Banca Svizzera) was a large integrated financial services company located in Switzerland. Prior to its merger, the bank was the third largest in Switzerland with over CHF300 billion of assets and CHF11.7 billion of equity.
Throughout the 1990s, SBC engaged in a large growth initiative, shifting its focus from traditional commercial banking into investment banking, in an effort to match its larger Swiss rival Credit Suisse. As part of this strategy, SBC acquired US-based investment bank Dillon Read & Co. as well as London-based merchant bank S.G. Warburg in the mid-1990s. SBC also acquired Chicago-based Brinson Partners and O'Connor & Associates. These acquisitions formed the basis for a global investment banking business.
In 1998, SBC merged with Union Bank of Switzerland to form UBS, the largest bank in Europe and the second largest bank in the world. The company's logo, which featured three keys, symbolizing "confidence, security, and discretion", was adopted by UBS after the 1998 merger. Although the combination of the two banks was billed as a merger of equals, it quickly became evident that from a management perspective, it was SBC that was buying UBS as nearly 80% of the top management positions were filled by legacy Swiss Bank professionals. Today, what was SBC forms the core of many of UBS's businesses, particularly UBS Investment Bank.
Swiss Bank Corporation traces its history to 1854. In that year, six private banking firms in Basel, Switzerland, pooled their resources to form the Bankverein, a consortium that acted as an underwriting syndicate for its member banks. Among the original member banks were Bischoff zu St Alban, Ehinger & Cie., J. Merian-Forcart, Passavant & Cie., J. Riggenbach and von Speyr & Cie. The establishment of banks in Switzerland such as Swiss Bank's earliest predecessors (often structured as a Swiss Verein) was driven by the industrialization of the country and the construction of railroads in the mid-19th century.
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