Sustainable investing | UBS United States of America
Important information and disclosures
For informational and educational purposes only. Nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell, or solicitation of an offer to buy, any security, investment or product, or to engage in any investment strategy.
Investing involves risks, including the potential of losing money or the decline in value of the investment. Performance is not guaranteed.
Purpose of this document. This is marketing material intended to help you understand services and investments we offer. It should be used solely for the purposes of discussion with your UBS Financial Advisor and your independent consideration. UBS does not intend this to be fiduciary or best interest investment advice or a recommendation that you take a particular course of action.
Personalized recommendations or advice. If you would like more details about any of the information provided, or personalized recommendations or advice, please contact your UBS Financial Advisor.
Conflicts of interest. UBS Financial Services Inc. is in the business of establishing and maintaining investment accounts (including retirement accounts) and we will receive compensation from you in connection with investments that you make, as well as additional compensation from third parties whose investments we distribute. This presents a conflict of interest when we recommend that you move your assets to UBS from another financial institution or employer retirement plan, and also when we make investment recommendations for assets you hold at, or purchase through, UBS. For more information on how we are compensated by clients and third parties, conflicts of interest and investments available at UBS please refer to the ‘Your relationship with UBS’ booklet provided at ubs.com/relationshipwithubs, or ask your UBS Financial Advisor for a copy.
Important information about sustainable investments: An increasing number of products and services are using terms or labels related to sustainable investments. However, industry standards and terminology related to sustainable investments will differ and are evolving. Therefore, you should carefully review the offering materials to understand why a particular product or strategy may or may not be classified as a sustainable investment and if their approach aligns with your goals and objectives. At UBS Financial Services Inc., we continue to develop our own standards and a framework for sustainable investing. However we do not review every product to determine consistency with our standards, nor do all products that we make available align with our approach. Your UBS Financial Services Inc. Financial Advisor can assist you in identifying products that we have reviewed and determined to be consistent with our standards.
At UBS Financial Services Inc., we serve as a distributor of sustainable investment strategies. We believe sustainable investment strategies should have an explicit focus on sustainability objectives or outcomes. Sustainable investments across geographies and styles approach the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and other sustainability considerations and incorporate the findings in a variety of ways. Sustainable investing-related strategies may or may not result in favorable investment performance and the strategy may forego favorable market opportunities in order to adhere to sustainable investing-related strategies or mandates. Issuers may not necessarily meet high performance standards on all aspects of ESG or other sustainability considerations. In addition, there is no guarantee that a product’s sustainable investing-related strategy will be successful. The ability to implement the approaches to sustainable investing will depend on the product or service selected; they are not available for all products, services or accounts offered through UBS.
Non-Traditional Assets: Non-traditional asset classes are alternative investments that include hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and managed futures (collectively, alternative investments). Interests of alternative investment funds are sold only to qualified investors, and only by means of offering documents that include information about the risks, performance and expenses of alternative investment funds, and which clients are urged to read carefully before subscribing and retain. An investment in an alternative investment fund is speculative and involves significant risks. Specifically, these investments (1) are not mutual funds and are not subject to the same regulatory requirements as mutual funds; (2) may have performance that is volatile, and investors may lose all or a substantial amount of their investment; (3) may engage in leverage and other speculative investment practices that may increase the risk of investment loss; (4) are long-term, illiquid investments, there is generally no secondary market for the interests of a fund, and none is expected to develop; (5) interests of alternative investment funds typically will be illiquid and subject to restrictions on transfer; (6) may not be required to provide periodic pricing or valuation information to investors; (7) generally involve complex tax strategies and there may be delays in distributing tax information to investors; (8) are subject to high fees, including management fees and other fees and expenses, all of which will reduce profits.
Interests in alternative investment funds are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank or other insured depository institution, and are not federally insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other governmental agency. Proaspective investors should understand these risks and have the financial ability and willingness to accept them for an extended period of time before making an investment in an alternative investment fund and should consider an alternative investment fund as a supplement to an overall investment program.
As a firm providing wealth management services to clients, UBS Financial Services Inc. offers investment advisory services in its capacity as an SEC-registered investment adviser and brokerage services in its capacity as an SEC-registered broker-dealer. Investment advisory services and brokerage services are separate and distinct, differ in material ways and are governed by different laws and separate arrangements. It is important that you understand the ways in which we conduct business, and that you carefully read the agreements and disclosures that we provide to you about the products or services we offer. For more information, please review client relationship summary provided at ubs.com/relationshipsummary, or ask your UBS Financial Advisor for a copy.
