UBS stops staff from visiting clients abroad

GENEVA: Switzerland���s embattled bank UBS has banned wealth management advisors from making business trips abroad to see foreign clients, a spokeswoman for the bank said.

Swiss media reported that about 1,000 UBS staff were ordered in the past week to rely on email or telephone contacts with clients abroad, amid fears that they might fall foul of a tax crackdown by foreign regulators. ���I can confirm there is a travel ban for client-facing wealth management staff,��� UBS spokeswoman Eveline Mueller said.

���We are currently conducting a comprehensive review of the policy and compliance framework in international wealth management,��� she added. Mueller said the suspension would remain in place at least while the review of the ���complex international regulatory environment��� was underway.

She declined to give further details. The review was understood to be international in scope and not confined to a particular region. UBS is the first Swiss bank to publicly confirm a provisional ban on business travel to advise clients abroad, following reports of such action at some of the smaller, elite private banks in recent weeks.

Switzerland���s biggest bank is at the centre of a broadening investigation in US into alleged tax fraud or evasion by hundreds of American citizens, and is facing potentially costly litigation by US authorities.

It has also suffered severe losses in the financial crisis, and in recent weeks both its chairman and CEO have been replaced.UBS admitted guilt in assisting tax fraud and paid $780 million to US authorities in February under a provisional deal to settle some of the charges it faces in the US.

The bank was also ordered to hand over details of 250 to 300 US clients. In court evidence, US tax investigators argued that travelling UBS staff had helped to hide funds offshore using Swiss banking secrecy. UBS shut down its offshore banking services in the US last year.

New CEO Oswald Gruebel has signalled since he took over on February that he would take a close look at risks the bank was taking.