Prime Minister The Rt. Honourable Hubert A. Ingraham – along with other dignitaries and guests – joined Mr. John Cusack, Acting Chairman of the Board of **UBS (Bahamas) Ltd.**, its CEO, Mr. Richard Voswinckel, the CEO of **UBS Trustees (Bahamas) Ltd.**, Mr. Andreas Rentschler, and their management and staff for a ground breaking ceremony today. The ceremony signified the start of the construction of an additional state-of-the art office building on the UBS property located on East Bay Street, Nassau.

The new building is intended to accommodate the existing and forecasted growth of UBS in The Bahamas. The detailed architectural plans call for a two storied, 25,000 square foot, class-A office building. A portion of the building, expected to be completed in late 2009, is expected to be sublet.

UBS says that with this and other important investments, it effectively demonstrates its continuing and long-term commitment to The Bahamas as a key location for financial services. The group commenced operations here, via its predecessor entity, Swiss Bank Corporation, more than 39
years ago.

UBS is one of the world’s leading financial firms, serving a discerning international client base. Its business, global in scale, is focused on growth. As an integrated firm, UBS creates added value for clients by drawing on the combined resources and expertise of all its businesses.

UBS is the leading global wealth manager, leading global investment banking and securities firm, and one of the largest global asset managers. In Switzerland, UBS is the market leader in retail and commercial banking, and it is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in 50 countries, with about 38% of its employees working in the Americas, 33% in Switzerland, 17% in the rest of Europe and 12% in Asia Pacific. UBS’s financial businesses employ more than 80,000 people around the world. UBS shares are listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange (SWX), the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).

Photo (*by Vision Photography*) shows Richard Voswinckel, PM Ingraham, John Cusack and Andreas Rentschler “turning the soil” at the ground breaking ceremony today.