UBS Virtual Museum

1962-1989

Source: Unless otherwise noted, all text and image sources come from UBS's historical archives. Personnel and anniversary publications as well as annual reports form in essence the basis.

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1962

First staff restaurants at both banks

In Switzerland, nearly one in eight people now eats in a communal catering establishment once a day. Staff restaurants have had a significant impact on lunch-break eating habits. Large industrial companies started providing canteens for their employees in the 1920s as shift working was more widely introduced, and in the 1960s, with continuous working hours becoming the norm, more and more large service companies also began to offer staff catering. Within a few years, the short meal break in the staff restaurant had replaced the two-hour lunch break at home.

First staff restaurants open

In 1961 Union Bank of Switzerland founded a subsidiary, Culinarium AG, to handle this aspect of its day-to-day work. In the bank’s anniversary year (1962), the new subsidiary opened its first staff restaurant in the new annex at the bank’s head office....

In Zurich alone 1,200 meals were served every day in the restaurant’s first year, catering to a workforce of around 1,800 employees.

In the same year, Swiss Bank Corporation also opened its first staff restaurant, on Paradeplatz in Zurich, with a panoramic view of the city. Unlike Union Bank of Switzerland, Swiss Bank Corporation brought in an external caterer to run its staff restaurant: the non-profit organization Schweizer Verband Soldatenwohl (the Swiss Association for Soldiers’ Welfare, today’s SV Group), founded in 1914, saw to the culinary well-being of the bank’s employees.

Canteens with service

Diners were offered three set meals each day (including a diet meal) at CHF 2 each; a light meal cost CHF 1.50. To put this in context, the average monthly pay of a bank clerk in those days was CHF 1,400.vUnlike in other large catering establishments, where diners served themselves at the buffet, here they were served at the table by waiting staff.

Organization of the food service operation

At the beginning of the week, Union Bank of Switzerland employees were given a voucher card with the set meals that they could order for each day.

Canteen on the 4th floor

In 1962, the Union Bank of Switzerland staff restaurant at Bahnhofstrasse 45 was an attractively laid-out and tastefully furnished dining establishment, and was divided into three rooms to enable congestion-free serving even at peak times. From the restaurant, diners could enjoy an unrivalled view of the city.

Oral hygiene a top priority

To encourage dental hygiene, special booths were set up in the Culinarium canteens in Bern and Aarau where diners could brush their teeth after lunch using the electric toothbrushes provided. Obviously, diners had to provide their own brush heads.

High standards

With an average visit frequency of 50–60% of employees, the staff restaurants were very popular. The Culinarium kitchen staff have won multiple awards and consistent recognition at international exhibitions of culinary art.

Photo of the Snackeria Banhofstrasse 45 Zurich, dating from 1983.

Popular lunch option in the Bank

One year after the move to continuous working hours, most people were enthusiastic about the canteen lunches. Initially, many employees found it difficult to stay away from their habitual family lunch, or going without their usual afternoon nap, reported SBC’s staff magazine “Unter uns” in 1963, along with “Although our dining room or coffee area can never fully replace the cosy familiarity of home, these bright, airy and sunny rooms are perfect for having a meal and lingering over coffee and a friendly chat with colleagues; they make a very pleasant place to relax.”

Photo of the SV canteen at SBC Zurich in 1963.

A prestigious canteen in Basel

In 1964, Swiss Bank Corporation opened another staff restaurant in the neo-baroque “Goldener Löwe” mansion in the bank’s hometown of Basel....

By taking up residence in this prestigious property, the firm, now almost 100 years old, sought to present a reflection of its successful growth. Here, too, the Schweizer Verband Volksdienst (the successor organization to the Swiss Association for Soldiers’ Welfare), which had started out providing meals to soldiers in an alcohol-free setting during World War I, provided the catering for the bank’s employees.

1965

The first TV commercial

For the first ten years of its existence Swiss television was commercial-free. On 1 February 1965, the first commercial break was shown. Union Bank of Switzerland was among the first companies to use the advertising medium, along with Pepsi, Ovomaltine and Opel even though there had initially been a debate at the bank over using TV advertising. The TV commercial was intended by some of the bank’s marketing experts to demonstrate its progressiveness, but detractors were worried that the new medium wouldn’t be appropriate for “the position and reputation of a large bank.” SBC aired its first TV commercial in 1967.

Ascona, filming location for the first Union Bank of Switzerland commercial

Television commercials were first broadcast in the US in 1941 and in West Germany in 1956, but Swiss television was not given permission to show them until the early 1960s....

The moment finally arrived in Switzerland on 1 February 1965. Union Bank of Switzerland was one of the first advertisers, with a commercial that was set in a café in Ascona next to Lake Maggiore. In the commercial, an affluent traveler extols the virtues of the bank’s superior services.

SRF: The first commercial break on Swiss televisionUBS AG, Historical Archive

In 1967, SBC aired its first TV commercial

UBS AG, Historical Archive

1965

SBC starts its business in Tokyo – followed by Union Bank of Switzerland a year later

Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) opened an office in Tokyo’s Marunouchi business district in 1965, after recognizing in the early 1960s the future potential of Japan’s economic growth and the growing trade with the country. This provided Japanese business clients and foreign ventures in East Asia with the services of a commercial bank. However, retail banking and securities trading were prohibited by Japanese banking law. The start of investment banking operations by Union Bank of Switzerland and SBC in 1966 would be supporting Japan’s economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Tokyo branch of SBC

SBC had 15 world-wide permanent offices by 1965. The newly created Tokyo branch fitted seamlessly into this expansion policy.

Photo circa 1971; Naka-Dori Street, Tokyo.

Long-standing business relationships with Japan

SBC’s first transactions with Japan were in 1905, when its London office helped with the introduction and sale of a number of Imperial Japanese Government bonds.

Photo circa 1971; Naka-Dori Street, Tokyo.

SBC – the second international bank in Japan

The Tokyo office was primarily in charge of financing trade between Switzerland and Japan, but it also had sister offices in New York and London and was keen to build financial ties with the west coast of the United States.

Photo circa 1971; Counter and reception hall, Naka-Dori Street, Tokyo.

1967

The first cash dispenser

The move from drive-in banking to cash dispenser withdrawals was a logical one. However, the automation needed for this required a number of preparatory steps. The first generation of cash dispensers required the user to withdraw reference checks of CHF 200 each in advance. Those checks made it possible to withdraw money whenever needed. Union Bank of Switzerland was the first bank in Switzerland to introduce a cash dispenser. A year later came the Bancomat, a unified cash dispenser system by the Swiss banks. 23 such machines were operational at the beginning of 1969.

The first 24-hour bank

Union Bank of Switzerland provided its clients with the first 24/7 bank that made money transfers possible.

Keystone Photopress Archive, photographer Fernando Ghisleni

Cash dispensers made cash available at any time

The instruction manual provided step-by-step instructions on how to use “cash cards” to make cash withdrawals from cash dispensers.

No more cash worries after closing time

Along with other methods, advertising posters were used to publicize the launch of the first cash dispenser. The media response was enormous....

1969

Rapid balance sheet growth

The 1950s and 1960s were exceptionally good for Union Bank of Switzerland. Buoyed by its successful takeover of the Eidgenössische Bank in 1945, which had propelled Union Bank of Switzerland into the ranks of Switzerland’s major banks, the firm entered a period of rapid growth. Aided by increasing automation, the strong growth of the global economy and the surge in population and prosperity in Switzerland, these two decades were marked by a significant expansion of the branch network through the opening of new branches and a number of bank takeovers, especially in Switzerland. In its 100th anniversary year (1962), Union Bank of Switzerland topped the rankings for the first time, as the biggest bank in Switzerland, with total assets of CHF 6,961 million. This was equivalent to almost doubling in five years. Through its merger with Interhandel AG in 1967, Union Bank of Switzerland became one of the most highly capitalized financial institutions at European level.

A rise in interest rates causes an upsurge in the category “short-term liabilities toward customers”

Naturally, the annual financial statements from 1969 were also the cover story in the staff magazine. The information was accompanied by one of the celebrated caricatures from the pen of cartoonist Peter Hürzeler....

The cartoon depicted the average customer who benefited from the “extremely” high interest rates on the short-term money market.

Regarding the extraordinary increase in total assets to more than CHF 20 billion for the first time, General Manager Philippe de Weck commented: “If we consider that it took decades to reach a balance sheet total of CHF 2 billion or CHF 3 billion, then this growth does indeed give us pause for thought.”

UBS AG, Historical Archive, SBG Information, 19.02.1970 p. 1, Cartoon Peter Hürzeler

Overseas organization of Union Bank of Switzerland, end of 1971

Even in the years after its 100th anniversary, the bank’s balance sheet showed double-digit growth rates. This strong performance, especially from Switzerland’s big banks, was the result of economic growth, the increasingly rapid change in the economy toward the tertiary sector, and a considerable increase in general prosperity....

The bank dealt with the growing demands of this expansion of business activities through repeated injections of capital. Overseas activities contributed significantly to the rapid growth in business volume. While the international share of assets was 23% in 1962, this figure had risen to 41% in 1969, with the international share in liabilities increasing from 30% to 43% over the same period.

Expansion was curbed

The expansion of the business volume would have been even greater at times if the federal government hadn’t restricted the growth of the domestic banking sector through policy measures introduced to cool economic growth and through an agreement between the banks and the Swiss National Bank, which, among other things, limited the inflow of external funds and foreign investments in Switzerland and capped domestic loans and staffing levels.

1972

UBS takes over Pozzy Bank

In addition to opening a new branch in Switzerland’s Puschlav valley, Union Bank of Switzerland acquired the banking division of the Pozzy trading company in 1972. Pozzy Bank was founded in 1747, making it the oldest of all the banks acquired by UBS to date. Pozzy Bank is still the oldest of the 370 or so UBS predecessor institutions: none of the banks acquired by Swiss Bank Corporation were established even remotely as early as Pozzy Bank. UBS maintained operations of the Poschiavo branch until 2021.

The Union Bank of Switzerland branch in Poschiavo

Photo circa 1982.

UBS AG, Historical Archive, photographer unknown

Pozzy Bank advertising board

Puschlaver Bank has undergone a number of name changes throughout its lengthy business history....

As Bank Ragazzi, it was established in 1747 by Jacobus Ragazzius. Ragazzi & Pozzy was the company’s name from 1869, when three cousins joined as partners. The bank was renamed Giorgio Pozzy in 1892 when Giorgio Pozzy took over management of the institution without any partners. After his passing, his son Attila and Augusto Semadeni took over the banking company, which they renamed Pozzy, Semadeni & Cie. in 1900. After 1958 the bank was known as Pozzy & Semadeni, and after Dialma Semadeni left in 1965 it was known as Pozzy & Cie.

Urs A Müller-Lhotska: Geschichte der Bank Pozzy in Poschiavo. (History of Bank Pozzy in Poschiavo) (2001) BaselUBS AG, Historical Archive

View of the old bank office of Pozzy Bank

Following the takeover, Union Bank of Switzerland meticulously removed the old bank office before opening the new branch in Poschiavo keeping it aligned with the Union Bank of Switzerland model.

Up-close view of the old bank office at Pozzy Bank

Work was done at the standing desk, the inkwell at the ready: before the first typewriter was purchased, everything was written by hand – initially with quill pens and then with metal nibs and ink.

1975

Union Bank of Switzerland opens the Wolfsberg Training Center

In 1970, Union Bank of Switzerland bought Wolfsberg Castle, built in 1576 and perched on cliffs above Ermatingen, including around 12 hectares of land, with the idea of establishing a training center there. The contract to refurbish the castle and build the training center was awarded to the Zurich architectural firm of Rudolf and Esther Guyer. The older buildings, which were renovated in close cooperation with the department responsible for the preservation of historic monuments, include the castle, Parquin House, a castle chapel and stables. These buildings housed the guest rooms, dining and recreation areas, staff quarters, and offices. The new school wing consists of classrooms, a lecture hall and an auditorium. Three residential buildings with 120 single rooms and a sports facility were also newly built.

Wolfsberg Castle overlooking the Untersee, also known as Lower Lake Constance

The training center was opened on 8 May 1975. From then on, not only were scores of internal specialist courses delivered, but, right from the beginning, the training center was also made available for external courses in the fields of business, society and HR management....

The first year of operation was a resounding success: course participants for 1975 numbered 3,091, along with 1,039 meeting attendees. In addition, around 12,000 visitors came to Wolfsberg for an outing or a public event.

Wolfsberg as a host for cultural events

It’s not only training, teaching and learning that happen at Wolfsberg Training Center. From its inception, the Center has always been envisioned as a meeting point for the general public....

As part of the public “Wolfsberg in-house events”, the training center hosted lectures, readings, concerts, theatrical performances and film screenings. In addition, four art exhibitions are presented in Parquin House each year.

The English garden with coach house and Parquin House.

The UBS Center for Education and Dialogue

The training center has operated under this name since the merger of Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation in 1998.

Aerial view of the entire Wolfsberg site

Over the past 50 years, some modifications and refurbishment have been necessary. In 2020, a new building by architects Arndt, Geiger, Herrmann replaced the original conference building dating from 1975.

1976

Real-time banking

In the late 1970s, Swiss Bank Corporation created a revolution in digitalization. Swiss Bank Corporation was the first Swiss bank to enter the era of real-time banking. This innovative step linked almost all of the computers within the bank together into a single network, accelerated the exchange of data and, little by little, automated a range of work processes across all banking areas. The improvement in efficiency, while simultaneously improving quality, was enormous. Tasks that, up to then, had usually been done manually, in time-consuming and labor-intensive steps, were now dealt with by real-time banking in just a few seconds.

Before–After / Offline–Online

Unlike in the days before real-time banking, when the account balance reflected the amount of the previous day or the day before that, real-time banking made it possible to synchronously track and record the account balance for each transaction....

To put this in context, prior to the introduction of real-time banking, when cash was withdrawn at the bank counter a transaction receipt was generated, which was sent by post or rail to the regional headquarters for entry in the banking records. There, the data was typed up in three shifts, then transferred to punch cards and later to magnetic tapes. The following day, the hard copy bank statement was returned to the branch.

Pictured is a customer counter at Ahornhof in Basel in 1977.

Real-time banking components

The real-time banking systems consisted of terminals (Burroughs Front-End Modules), a concentrator that controlled communication from up to eight terminals to the mainframe computer (an IBM 370). In the event of any system malfunction, the concentrators were able to maintain banking operations in offline mode....

The Burroughs terminals were designed to be modular and, depending on requirements, could consist of five components: monitor; keyboard; reader for magnetic strip cards to identify employees and customers; cash desk printer at the counter; and office printer in the back office.

Pictured: IBM 370 in the regional center of the SBV, which was considered the most modern electronic data processing system in 1972.

Expansion of real-time banking

Between 1975 and 1979 all branches were connected to the real-time banking network. In total, more than 1,300 terminals were installed in the front- and back-office settings....

The first applications in 1976 included the most important cash register functions, information on banking transactions, and domestic and international payment transactions.

On 20 June 1977, Swiss Bank Corporation became the first Swiss institution to be connected to the SWIFT system (Society for Worldwide Financial Interbank Telecommunication).

In 1981, additional features were added, such as processing of standing orders, coupon credits and, in 1986, among other things, domestic and international stock market orders, as well as credit transactions and real-time banking telex.

One device for multiple EDP-systems

Despite the existence of real-time banking, until the 1980s the most important office tasks were carried out on a range of devices: bank transactions were performed at the real-time banking terminal; correspondence, forms and protocols were typed up on a typewriter; and for storing and retrieving information, computers or index card systems were used....

By the late 1980s, offices were increasingly equipped with personal computers (PCs), because many more essential applications and features, from word processing and calculation functions to data management and graphics creation, were available on their operating systems. On the PCs, not only could work processes be combined, but data could also be transferred from one application to another. From the second half of the 1990s onward, more and more real-time banking functions were transferred to PCs.

With PCs comprehensively networked, in 1989 electronic mail (e-mail) began its conquest of the communication world. In addition, once they’d been created, documents could now be forwarded without paper printout or other media discontinuities.

At the end of 1989, 5,000 PCs were installed at SBC in addition to 6,300 real-time banking terminals. The goal was to further standardize the IT infrastructure by 1998 so that all employees would then only work on a standardized workstation.

1976

Union Bank of Switzerland rescues Zurich's Polybahn funicular

Ever since the Polybahn funicular first opened in 1889, its bright red carriages have transported thousands of passengers up and down the hill between central Zurich and the city's two universities every day. But despite its popularity, changing transport trends meant that passenger numbers and proceeds had fallen so low by the early 1970s that the owners increasingly found themselves in the red. In 1975 they slammed on the brakes and refused to carry out an expensive refurbishment required to renew their license. Instead, they started looking for a buyer - to no avail. Just as the Polybahn's fate seemed sealed - and the owners had taken the first steps to close it down - the Union Bank of Switzerland stepped in. It took over the Polybahn, renovated it and adapted it to comply with stricter safety standards. Six months later, Zurich celebrated the return of the Polybähnli (as it's affectionately known among locals) with a big party.

Find out more at Polybahn

A young country in the grip of railway fever

After Switzerland's first railway line opened between Zurich and Baden in 1847, the country was gripped by railway fever. Before long, the marvels of engineering had opened up the Alps, making it a tourist destination for the first time....

This technical expertise was brought to the Zürichberg hill, too. The Zürichbergbahn railway company was founded for this purpose in December 1886 and published its construction plans that very year. Work on a shorter route from the Limmatquai to the Polytechnic University began in 1888, with the first test run that September.

Five days after being approved by the authorities, the railway opened on 8 January 1889. It was an immediate success.

Wood engraving Image about 1890.

Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Collection of Prints and Drawings and Newspaper Archive of the Pro Polybahn Association

That alpine feeling in the heart of Zurich

By the 1920s, the Polybahn was already a popular subject on postcards of Zurich. A testimony to the industrialization of Switzerland, it still carries passengers up and down the hill between the Central Station and the universities 200 times a day.

Baugeschichtliches Archiv, photographer unknown

More than just nostalgia - one of Zurich's landmarks

The funicular is part of Zurich's history. The year it opened, the “student express” was already transporting 1269 passengers a day, on average. The journey cost 10 cents and the staff's working day lasted 10.5 hours....

The numbers have changed over the years, but our commitment has remained the same: we are dedicated to preserving culture and traditions.

Archiv der Zürichbergbahn-Gesellschaft

The cult Polybahn

The Swiss Tourist Office describes the leisurely ride from the Old Town to the Polyterrasse viewing platform on the UBS Polybahn as a must-do in Zurich. In 1978, it was even immortalized in a song by the Swiss group Trio Eugster.

Picture from around 2000.

1989

A mascot for the littlest savers

Any child who opened an account with Swiss Bank Corporation received a money box and also, from 1989 onward, a cuddly toy: a little turquoise fox. Since then, the bank’s mascot has taught thousands of children all about saving and about managing their money. After Swiss Bank Corporation and Union Bank of Switzerland merged in 1998 to form UBS, the little fox’s fur color was changed to red, and he was given the name Topsy and a group of friends to go on adventures with, friends known in English as Sophie Squirrel, Barry Badger and Willie Woodpecker. Topsy and his pals have since appeared as computer animations, coloring-in pictures, and gadgets in communication media, and they’ve also appeared live at a range of events for children.

A clever little fox

The beloved little animal started out in 1989 as a cuddly turquoise fox that was given as a gift to every child who opened an account with SBC.

Symbol of wisdom

At Union Bank of Switzerland it was Esmeralda the owl who, from 1987 onward, encouraged children to save their money. In the shape of a wooden money box, Esmeralda and her son Sebastian are still considered an icon of Swiss design. They were produced in a woodworking factory in Brienz in the Bernese Oberland.

Topsy turns red

After the two banks merged, it was decided that the children’s savings scheme should be continued. Although children loved the animals used by both banks, it would have been strange if UBS had had two mascots....

When it came to deciding on a mascot, Topsy just pipped Esmeralda at the post. Topsy’s fur was given a new color to match the UBS logo, and its design has changed regularly over the years: sometimes Topsy’s been made of wood, sometimes of plastic with a treasure chest, and then back to a cuddly toy with a little money bag.