Recovery of Investment Losses in UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy

The securities attorneys at Morgan & Morgan’s Business Trial Group are investigating investment losses in UBS Wealth Management’s Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES).

The financial firm marketed YES as a conservative, market-neutral strategy and bond-portfolio enhancer. This strategy, according to UBS, would generate consistent income while limiting risks to the premiums paid, even if markets turned bearish. UBS represented to investors that YES would limit exposure to substantial market moves, whether up or down. The firm also told investors YES would use protective options strategies to prepare for any unexpected volatility or market downturns.

Essentially, UBS sold YES as a strategy that would generate modest returns in both bull and bear markets, with limited risk. However, YES really used high-risk leverage to trade options and make speculative bets that markets would remain calm and not turn volatile. We believe most investors were unaware that YES offered relatively low upside with huge downside.

YES investments suffered significant losses in late 2018 when the markets became volatile, losing about 18% for the year. By contrast, the S&P 500 lost about 4% that same year. In 2019, YES suffered losses of 2%, while the S&P 500 gained over 31%. YES also sustained substantial losses in February and March 2020, when market volatility returned amidst the pandemic.

At their peak, YES investment holdings totaled about $6 billion in mid 2018. UBS, however, may have charged excessive fees relating to YES investments.

If you have suffered losses in YES investments sold by UBS, our experienced securities attorneys are here to help. Call us at (888) 744-0142 today or fill out this form for a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.

The Business Trial Group is part of the largest contingency law firm in the nation, with more than 700 lawyers and offices across the country. Our attorneys help investors recover their losses on a contingency basis, which means we are only paid if we successfully recover money for you. Our goal is to not only be the best securities attorneys in Florida, but to make the highest quality representation affordable.

Our attorneys aggressively fight for justice against brokerage firms, investment advisory firms, and banks, and we have helped investors recover tens of millions of dollars of investment losses.