Everything is always feasible if you run a corporate finance exercise: you can always try to come out with a justification on how things could work. But the real issue is to say how do you translate that into practice. Sergio Ermotti More Quotes by Sergio Ermotti More Quotes From Sergio Ermotti If we call ourselves the preeminent wealth management firm globally, then it would be impossible not to be a strong player in the biggest market in the world, the Americas. Sergio Ermotti strong management impossible world Usually, you measure appetite of investors by their ability or willingness to take a bit of leverage on their positions. Sergio Ermotti measure take you ability When you look at billionaires, many of them share one characteristic: They were not born billionaires. Sergio Ermotti look you born share When you start to get shareholders, clients, employees, rating agencies, and everybody converging, and then your competitors bad-mouth you, you know you did the right thing. Sergio Ermotti employees start know you Every bank has to find its own DNA. Sergio Ermotti dna bank find own In 1987, Merrill Lynch asked me to open a Swiss capital markets operation. I was 27. In hindsight, I was lucky enough to start a business from scratch. And I mean from zero - no offices, even, just a space with walls between different areas. We decided to tear down the walls. Sergio Ermotti down me space business I'm totally convinced that the battleground of banking is not the front office. The battleground is the back end. Sergio Ermotti end back banking office There's no understandable reason why the financial services industry has not developed a more comprehensive sharing of the value chain. Sergio Ermotti sharing value more reason We don't really believe there's much room for the creation of new currencies if there is no real backing for a hard and credible issuer of that currency. Sergio Ermotti new creation real believe We believe existing currencies may move into becoming more of a crypto-currency. Sergio Ermotti move more may believe People should never take things for granted. Sergio Ermotti never things take people Many businesses in an investment bank, not only at UBS, are structurally a loss leader, so they don't pay for the cost of capital. Sergio Ermotti bank investment leader loss We have a very competitive and profitable investment bank and strong asset management capabilities. We want to continue to build on all those businesses organically. Sergio Ermotti investment strong management want