UBS wants to buy a U.S. wealth business, eventually – report

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) would like to buy another U.S. wealth management firm to bolster the Paine Webber business it bought in 2000, but it’s in no rush, Chairman Colm Kelleher said on Tuesday, according to a media report.

The bank would like to replicate Morgan Stanley’s (MS) success in doubling profitability when it acquired Smith Barney, he said at an event in Oxford, Bloomberg reported.

“UBS (NYSE:UBS) would very much like to be able to, when the time is right, do a similar sort of thing in the U.S.,” Kelleher said.

But first, UBS needs to digest its acquisition of Credit Suisse, which requires about three years, he said. “We don’t want to be distracted when we’ve still got things to put right.”

UBS (UBS) is the world’s largest global wealth manager, but trails rivals in the U.S., where it has been striving to scale up its independent broker model. The network of financial advisers deliver UBS products to clients, but they’re not directly employed by the bank.

Kelleher also said he’s thinking about serving a total of eight years as UBS’s (UBS) chairman. He has already served three years. He wants to make sure he gets the right replacement for CEO Sergio Ermotti before he leaves the bank.