UBS has withdrawn from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) after making its annual assessment of its sustainability- and climate-related memberships.

The wealth management and banking group's departure comes after British banks Barclays and HSBC also left the initiative.

The NZBA was established in 2021, with UBS as one of its founding members, as the industry looked to develop decarbonisation frameworks for financed emissions.

UBS said that it recognised the NZBA’s ‘valuable role’ in helping banks establish initial target-setting frameworks.

However, like several of its global peers, UBS has decided to withdraw from the NZBA as it felt this work had advanced and its in-house capabilities had strengthened.

“Our commitment to sustainability remains unchanged and we recognise the importance of an orderly transition to a low-carbon economy,” the firm stated.

UBS added that its ambition of being a ‘leader’ in sustainability was unchanged, and it will continue to progress its sustainability and impact strategy.

Furthermore, the bank said it remained committed to ensuring it was its clients’ bank of choice and supporting them with offerings that meet their changing requirements.

“Clients remain at the heart of what we do as we support them in the transition,” UBS continued.

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to be our clients’ bank of choice and support them with offerings that meet their evolving needs.

“We remain focused on supporting our clients in understanding the impact of climate change in their business models and their investments, including both risks and opportunities.

“We continue advancing our multi-year initiative to embed sustainability and climate risk into our risk management and stress-testing frameworks.”

---