What are the latest developments from within UBS?
I presume you are referring to the acquisition of ABN Amro Futures [see FO Week Vol 11 No 20]. It has been a fantastic year for the futures business in UBS, and the first half of the year has been good across the futures industry. This culminated in the announcement of the acquisition of ABN. We are still in the process of due diligence so there is not a huge amount I can say, but we expect that to be completed at the end of September. We see this as a fantastic opportunity for us. The business is a really good fit strategically.
Did you investigate a number of acquisition possibilities or had you been focused on ABN Amro from the beginning?
We recognised early on that ABN was one of the few firms that we thought would be right for us...