UBS and the Integration of Human Rights Due Diligence Under the United Nations (UN) Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework for Business and Human Rights

Abstract

UBS, headquartered in Switzerland, is one of the world’s leading financial services companies, offering international wealth and asset management as well as investment banking services. UBS is fully committed to corporate responsibility. This commitment is incorporated in the principles and standards set out in the bank’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. These apply to all aspects of UBS’ business and the ways in which the firm engages with its stakeholders—from the products and services offered to its clients, its management of environmental and social risks, to the way UBS protects the well-being of its employees and society at large. As part of this, and in line with the firm’s endorsement of the UN Global Compact, UBS adopted the ‘UBS Statement on Human Rights’ in 2006, setting out the firm’s position on human rights issues with regard to its employees, suppliers and clients. This chapter explains how the UBS environmental and social risk framework developed over time with regard to incorporating aspects of human rights when vetting prospective corporate clients and executing their transactions. In particular, it illustrates how the UN ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework for Business and Human Rights, together with discourse between committed universal banks convened as the Thun Group, contributed to the successful integration of human rights into UBS’ due diligence process.