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.

In 1906, SBC purchased Banque d'Espine, Fatio & Cie, establishing a branch in Geneva, Switzerland, for the first time.

Although SBC survived the war intact, it suffered the loss of its investments in a number of large industrial companies.

[4] In 1918, SBC purchased Métaux Précieux SA Métalor to refine precious metals and produce bank ingots.

The impact of the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression would be severe, particularly as the Swiss franc suffered major devaluation in 1936.

On the eve of World War II, SBC was the recipient of large influxes of foreign funds for safekeeping.

Just prior to the outbreak of World War II, in 1939, Swiss Bank Corporation made the timely decision to open an office in New York City.

[6] The office was able to begin operations, located in the Equitable Building, just weeks after the outbreak of the war and was intended as a safe place to store assets in case of an invasion.

[11][12][13] Swiss Bank Corporation found itself in relatively strong financial condition at the end of World War II, with CHF 1.8 billion of assets.

However, by 1947 SBC was shifting its focus back to its traditional business of lending money principally to private companies as part of the postwar rebuilding of Europe.

[3] Meanwhile, the firm continued its expansion to international markets, particularly the United States where SBC focused primarily on commercial banking for corporate clients.

[4] As its own home market was highly competitive, SBC focused on commercial banking for American and other multinational companies.

[14] SBC would retain this position for the next 15 years until Credit Suisse leapfrogged into the top spot following its 1995 acquisitions of Schweizerische Volksbank and Winterthur Group.

SBC had been impacted by losses on its real estate investments and a series of minor controversies, despite the bank's historically conservative posture.

Beginning in the 1980s, SBC along with its Swiss peers began to embrace a more aggressive strategy to keep up with competitors in the US, Japan, Germany and the UK.

[18] SBC had established a strategic relationship with O'Connor, which was the largest market maker in the financial options exchanges in the US, beginning in 1988.

[17] A number of O'Connor executives were brought into key positions within the bank in an attempt to cultivate a more entrepreneurial culture at SBC.

[21] In 1994, SBC followed up its acquisition of O'Connor by acquiring Brinson Partners an asset management firm focused on providing access for US institutions to global markets.

[22] Two years later, in 1997, SBC paid US$600 million to acquire Dillon, Read & Co., a white shoe US investment banking firm considered to be a member of the bulge bracket.

[30][31] Dillon, Read, which traced its roots to the 1830s was among the powerhouse firms on Wall Street in the 1920s and 1930s and by the 1990s had a particularly strong mergers and acquisitions advisory group.

Aggressively pushing ahead its various acquisitions, UBS was mired in a series of entanglements with activist shareholders who were critical of bank's relatively conservative management.

[32] Martin Ebner, through his investment trust, BK Vision became the largest shareholder in UBS and attempted to force a major restructuring of the bank’s operations.

[35] Ebner, who supported the idea of a merger, led a major shareholder revolt that resulted in the replacement of UBS's chairman, Robert Studer.

[37] Discussions between the two banks had begun several months earlier, less than a year after rebuffing Credit Suisse's merger overtures.

[38] The all-stock merger resulted in the creation UBS AG, a huge new bank with total assets of more than US$590 billion.

[3] Additionally, UBS professionals suffered more headcount reductions, particularly in the investment banking unit where there were heavy cuts in the corporate finance and equities businesses.

In November 2000, UBS merged with Paine Webber an American stock brokerage and asset management firm led by chairman and CEO, Donald Marron.

The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors, although this is not necessarily a comprehensive list:[55] Basler Bankverein(est.