Law

UBS has been asked to pay a sum of around $25 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on allegations of fraud that arise out of their complex in-house developed strategy known as the Yield Enhancement Strategy, or simply, YES.

The YES program was designed to lower exposure during times of market volatility and involved the placement of several options trades at varying strike prices, all with the same date of expiry. However, beginning in December 2018, investments under the strategy suffered significant losses.

Matthew Thibaut, a partner with Haselkorn & Thibaut, has many years of experience as both a former financial advisor and as an attorney who has previously defended broker-dealer firms, and his observation is that: “… it’s clear that UBS clients in some instances may have told clients one thing at the time they invested, and now those same clients who are questioning unexpected investment losses in their account are being told something quite different.”