Why UBS's Asian M&A bankers are thriving and UBS's American M&A bankers are not

If you're an M&A banker at UBS in America this summer, you might not want to spend too much money on your vacation. Things don't appear to be going entirely well for you. As we observed in June, UBS ranked somewhere below 20th position for US M&A deals in the first half of this year. Its US M&A market share was very far below 2% of the total.

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If you're an M&A banker at UBS in Asia, on the other hand, a frugal vacation is less of a necessity. UBS ranked 2nd for M&A revenues in Asia ex-Japan in the first half of 2026 according to Dealogic, and accounted for over 7% of the available fees in the region. Comparatively speaking, the Asian M&A business at UBS is thriving. 

What's the cause of the discrepancy? UBS didn't comment for this article, but speaking during last week's investor call, CFO Todd Tuckner suggested the bank had failed to participate in this year's "very large transactions where participation is often influenced by broader client financing relationships." By comparison, said Tuckner, the bank is seeing "good momentum" in the "mid-to-large cap" segment. This seems to particularly be the case in the US market. 

Unfortunately, US mega deals are where this year's mega growth is. Dealogic says US M&A revenues were up 35% in the first half of this year, to $15bn. Major M&A deals such as Paramount's $110bn acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery have driven the big US fee surge. Although UBS is a joint bookrunner on the debt syndication financing for this deal, it is not an M&A advisor. Nor is it advising on any of the other six mega deals as defined by law firm White & Case. 

In Asia, by comparison, UBS was an advisor on many marquee deals in the first half, including, for example, the $31.2bn merger between Guotai Junan Securities and Haitong Securities, and the $14.7bn merger between Taishin and Shin Kong financial holding companies in Taiwan.

It's unfortunate, then, that Asian M&A revenues were down 15% to $854m. Because UBS missed out on the US windfall, its global M&A revenues fell 4% year-on-year in the second quarter and were up only 2% in the first half. By comparison, global M&A revenues at the more US focused Morgan Stanley and Barclays were up 66% year-on-year in the six months to June.

UBS's persistent poor showing in America is despite the bank doubling the size of its US dealmaking team to 200 people since acquiring Credit Suisse in 2023 and despite hiring 17 M&A bankers in America in 2025. Marco Valla, global head of the investment bank, informed Financial News last December that the Swiss bank was "well-positioned to significantly grow," particularly in the US market. That hasn't happened yet. Tuckner's comments suggest this might be because UBS is less willing to finance the most mega US deals than its rivals. 

In Asia, UBS has also added bankers. Speaking to Financial News earlier this month, heads of UBS's Asian investment banking business - Gaetano Bassolino and Greg Peirce - said the bank added 100 Asian dealmakers when it acquired Credit Suisse and that this had worked out well because the bank had thus widened its focus. Pre-Credit Suisse, UBS's Asian business was focused on equity capital markets (ECM), said Bassolino and Pierce. The 100 new Credit Suisse bankers enabled it to 'broaden' "across South-east Asia and South Korea as well and into [M&A] advisory."  

In Asia, therefore, UBS's 100 new bankers have broken new ground. In the US, all the new bankers are ploughing the same terrain that their predecessors had failed to fully cultivate. This is more complicated. It also entails the politically sensitive task of reallocating existing relationships. 

UBS certainly hasn't given up on the US market. Valla wants UBS to rank sixth for investment banking globally, versus its current position somewhere far outside the top 10. He will need to crack the US M&A market to achieve this and Valla has accordingly indicated that he intends to hire another 25 dealmakers in America this year. Good luck to him. Existing US M&A MDs at UBS seem unlikely to get the best bonuses in the meantime. 

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