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UBS has made about 100 “goodwill funds” to Swiss prospects after complaints about losses on international alternate derivatives that blew up within the wake of Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs, because it seeks to attract a line underneath the episode at a time of heightened regulatory scrutiny.
The Swiss financial institution arrange an inner process pressure to look at the complaints after a few of its purchasers suffered heavy losses when the US greenback fell sharply following Trump’s announcement of blanket tariffs on April 2, alleging that they didn’t perceive the dangers concerned.
UBS’s process pressure performed a assessment of all purchasers utilising the product after receiving preliminary complaints, in accordance with an individual conversant in the financial institution’s processes.
The assessment discovered that some purchasers had outsized exposures as compared with their property and took motion to treatment the positions, the particular person mentioned.
A number of folks conversant in the complaints mentioned that about 100 folks concerned had acquired the funds after the assessment.
The international alternate product on the centre of the complaints will not be new however is tailor-made for skilled and high-risk buyers. On this case purchasers agreed to usually alternate {dollars} for Swiss francs at a set charge, so long as the alternate charge stayed inside an outlined vary.
Nevertheless, if the speed moved exterior that vary — resembling when the greenback all of a sudden dropped after Trump’s liberation day tariffs announcement — purchasers have been obliged to proceed buying and selling underneath more and more unfavourable circumstances, incurring steep losses.
“These merchandise successfully switch danger from the financial institution to the consumer, who’s left with minimal acquire potential and substantial publicity to loss,” mentioned Nicolas Ollivier, a lawyer at dispute specialist Lalive which is representing a number of retail {and professional} purchasers concerned within the scenario.
“Based mostly on the paperwork reviewed, it seems the purchasers weren’t totally or clearly knowledgeable of those dangers,” he added.
Individuals conversant in the matter mentioned the work of the UBS process pressure was drawing to a detailed, though it was nonetheless in lively discussions with some purchasers who believed they have been owed compensation.
The financial institution can be a handful of its consumer advisers and whether or not they need to have achieved extra to speak the dangers concerned within the merchandise to purchasers, the folks added.
Some purchasers who’ve misplaced cash on the merchandise however haven’t acquired a goodwill fee or compensation have filed felony complaints in Zurich.
The complaints have been filed towards unknown perpetrators for violations of the Unfair Competitors Act and are within the preliminary assessment stage, the Zurich public prosecutor mentioned. Swiss civil process doesn’t have a discovery course of like another international locations, that means events can use this route as a method to collect proof.
The scenario raises questions on danger controls and consumer safety at a time of heightened regulatory scrutiny for the Swiss financial institution, which is the world’s second-largest wealth supervisor.
Two of the purchasers who spoke to the Monetary Instances alleged aggressive promoting of the product even after they expressed concern in regards to the dangers.
One consumer misplaced greater than SFr3mn, in accordance with their authorized consultant. One other consumer, who instructed UBS they’d a medium urge for food for danger, mentioned their adviser on the financial institution solely gave them particular danger paperwork to signal many months after the financial institution began the commerce for them in 2023.
The second particular person mentioned they’d misplaced 15 per cent of their property and requested the financial institution to exit the funding a couple of days after Trump’s liberation day, earlier than the greenback dropped additional inflicting even bigger losses.
“I repeatedly expressed issues in regards to the product and mentioned I didn’t perceive it. They saved telling me to not fear after which they might simply restructure it,” the particular person mentioned.
UBS mentioned: “We have now accomplished a assessment of this matter and decided {that a} very small variety of purchasers in a couple of places in Switzerland skilled surprising results from the US tariff-related market volatility in April 2025. From the outset we have now taken this matter significantly and have checked out every consumer case individually.”
