UBS YES Cases

UBS Yield Enhancement Strategies Investor Alert: Stephen Boutros, LTD. is investigating UBS YES Trading Program in the Wake of Investor Losses

UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy Trading Program (“UBS YES”) Investigation Focused on Adequacy of Risk Disclosures, Suitability of Investment Recommendations, Over-Concentration Concerns, and Whether Trading Was Consistent with Disclosed Strategy.

Have you suffered losses investing in UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy trading program (“UBS YES”)?

Stephen Boutros, LTD. is working with UBS YES investors who believe they lost substantial amounts of money invested in the Yield Enhancement Strategies program. We are investigating and preparing to take action and seek compensation for any losses the investors suffered. The investigation focuses on a number of important issues, including (1) whether the UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy fully and adequately disclosed to investors important and major risks associated with the YES program; (2) whether UBS investors were improperly invested in the YES program, which may have been unsuitable to their investment profile; (3) whether some investors’ portfolios may have been overly-concentrated in the YES program; and (4) whether the actual trading strategy was consistent with the advertised strategy in the YES presentations and brochures.

What Is the UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy Trading Program?

UBS is a multinational financial services firm that provides brokerage services and investment advice to investors across the country. In recent years UBS and several other broker-dealer firms such as Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley began offering option-based trading strategies to some of their customers with large portfolios, ostensibly designed to increase the yield in those investors’ portfolios.

UBS launched the Yield Enhancement Strategy, a trading program advertised as an option-based trading strategy that sought to increase returns for investors who committed a certain minimum amount of their portfolio (called a “Mandate”) to this strategy. UBS brokers advertised the Yield Enhancement Strategy as an investment or trading program that involved trading call or put options to try and accomplish increased returns in their customers’ portfolios. Stock options give investors and traders the right to buy or sell a given financial product at a predetermined price within a fixed period based on the price of the financial product at the expiration of the product.

UBS offered the Yield Enhancement Strategy typically to high net worth investors, who had to agree to allocate a minimum Mandate, typically an amount of money in excess of a million dollars, to the YES program. The investors were often presented with a presentation, or “slide deck,” which purported to describe the Yield Enhancement program. We believe the YES presentation may have omitted material risk disclosures, as more fully detailed below.

The UBS YES program included trading strategies such as the Iron Condor, so named after the colorful appearance on a graph, and the open wings of the condor lie in the red, where funds are lost, while the body of the strategy lies in the green, where investors are expected to profit. The iron condor is an options strategy structure which entails writing two near money options that are short, in addition to purchasing two deeper out-of-the-money options that are long. The first component of an iron condor involves selling an out-of-the-money put (short put), while simultaneously selling an out-of-the-money call (short call). The colorful strategy was marketed as a way to seek additional returns for investors, however, many investors have indicated they suffered unexpected investment losses instead.

Click Here to Read UBS Faces Client Backlash Over Options Strategy

Stephen Boutros, LTD. is investigating the UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy on behalf of investors. Investors who believe they lost money investing in UBS’ Yield Enhancement Strategy are encouraged to contact attorney Stephen Boutros with any useful information or for a free, no-obligation discussion about their loss recovery options.

Click Here to read UBS’ Houston Office Faces Allegations of a ‘Racket’ in Complex Investment Strategy

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