In UBS-Credit Suisse deal, who gets wealth management's bragging rights?

The forced marriage of UBS and Credit Suisse, two behemoths of global finance, melds a pair of storied Swiss banks and longtime rivals — one already a clear leader in wealth management.

But does the blockbuster combination create new bragging rights — always prized in financial circles — over competitors? With annual revenues in the wealth management industry expected to top $500 billion by 2030, according to consulting firm Bain, it's a prime question.

UBS already boasts that it "has built the #1 wealth management franchise in the world."

But "franchise" can mean many things. Both banks cater to the ultrawealthy. And the question of who is the biggest isn't nearly as urgent as the monumental task UBS will face in absorbing Credit Suisse, all while making sure things are seamless for clients around the globe. 

Still, how does the new colossus stack up against the likes of Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase when it comes to wooing the richest investors?

By the numbers
The combined UBS-Credit Suisse will have roughly $3.5 trillion in global wealth management assets, according to a UBS presentation on the deal. But the figure comprises numbers as of the end of last year and thus doesn't account for steep outflows of deposits and assets at Credit Suisse that started in the last three months of 2022, a hemorrhaging that helped hasten its demise as an independent company when the U.S. banking crisis unfolded earlier this month. 

An additional $1.5 trillion in assets comes from the combined banks' asset management units, which run stock, index and other funds for investors. All told, the Swiss titan will have or oversee roughly $5 trillion in assets.

What did UBS bring to the wealth management table? Just about everything.

UBS
Before the merger, the bank had $3.1 trillion in global wealth assets as of March 31, 2022, a figure it features on a new website aimed at recruiting financial advisors who earn fees from the wealthiest clients. The figure doesn't account for the decline in markets later last year or break out how much of the total is from clients in the U.S., a core market for the bank.

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The Zurich-based bank had 9,215 financial advisors at the end of last year, with two-thirds, or 6,245, in the Americas, according its most recent annual report.

At the end of 2022, UBS's Global Wealth Management unit, one of four key divisions (the others are investment banking, asset management and personal and corporate banking) had 24,351 staffers worldwide, 30% of them in the U.S.

The unit brought in $19 billion in revenues last year, according to a securities filing. More than half, or $10.6 billion, came from the unit's Americas operations, which cover North America and South America.

Credit Suisse
At the end of last year, Zurich-based Credit Suisse's wealth arm managed a fraction of that money. It reported global wealth management assets of 540.5 billion Swiss francs (roughly $580 billion). The figure represents a massive outflow of more than 202 billion Swiss francs (roughly $220 billion) in 2022 alone.

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Credit Suisse pulled out of the U.S. market following a series of scandals, including scrutiny by the Justice Department over tax avoidance services it sold to wealthy American investors. The bank spun off its U.S private banking business to Wells Fargo in 2015.

Morgan Stanley
The Wall Street bank's Wealth Management division reported record net revenues for 2022 of $24.4 billion and fee-based client assets of nearly $1.7 trillion.

The company doesn't disclose how many wealth advisors it employs, but CEO James Gorman told a recent earnings call that the figure is around 15,000-16,000 worldwide. That's far more than both the old UBS and the new one, already a larger bank when international assets are counted.

JPMorgan Chase
Some 5,029 wealth advisors at Chase branch-based teams, online and JPMorgan Advisors oversaw client assets of just over $647 billion last year.

Separately, total client assets overseen by 3,137 advisors at the company's private bank were nearly $2 trillion.

Bank of America 
The bank's Global Wealth and Investment Management unit, whose anchors are Merrill Wealth Management and Bank of America Private Bank, had net revenues of $21.7 billion last year, according to its annual report. 

The unit had total client balances of nearly $3.4 trillion in 2022, including $1.4 trillion in client assets under management.