Governance
Our Global Supply Chain function is responsible for the governance of sourcing and procurement processes across the firm. We follow a category management approach, a strategic end-to-end process for buying goods and services that aligns our firm's business goals and requirements with supply market capability.
We outsourced most of our sourcing and procurement services to Chain IQ, an independent, global service company providing strategic, tactical and operational procurement. Chain IQ acts as an agent on behalf of UBS for defined countries and when applicable is directly involved in the negotiation of supplier contracts and commercial terms. Whenever Chain IQ is involved in a sourcing initiative, information about the sourcing process, supplier selection and final awarding decision will be provided by Chain IQ to all suppliers.
All suppliers participating in a tendering process (RFP, RFI, RFQ or eAuction) are treated equitably and fairly. The requirements, evaluation weight and contractual terms of an RFx are made transparent at the beginning of the process in the RFx documents.
The selection criteria, process and communication channels are equally applicable to all suppliers. Suppliers are required to contribute to selected risk assessments and will be informed of the outcome of the sourcing process selection.
We have a comprehensive Third Party Risk Management (TPRM) framework and controls to address regulatory requirements and wide range of risks encountered in our sourcing and supplier/contract lifecycle.
We segment vendors and contracts based on the risk posed to UBS. Contracts are segmented first, and the results are then aggregated to determine the vendor segment which in turn determines frequencies for reviews and quality criteria that translate into our minimum standards for vendor and contract management. This is to ensure regulatory compliance and best practice in managing a responsible supply chain.
We operate a federated model, where the governance of suppliers and contractual arrangements is performed by assigned UBS role holders representing the organizational unit that uses and/or is financially responsible for the services. Within our setup:
- Vendor Contract Managers manage performance and risks related to our supplier contracts.
- Vendor Relationship Managers act as UBS’s representative and escalation point for our suppliers.
- Executive Sponsors – who we appoint for our critical risk
suppliers - manage significant strategic changes and serious escalations.
In special cases also:
- Local Responsible Officers and Outsourcing Delivery Center Managers oversee local service delivery.
- UBS risk teams support ongoing supplier and contract governance activities.
