UBS, the Swiss bank currently battling against the US administration over demands to hand over client details, has insisted that it remains determined to continue offering wealth management services in the world’s biggest economy.

The Zurich-listed bank wants to shake up the top managerial line-up of its brokerage business in the US after deciding against a sale, according to the Financial Times earlier this week, which cited unnamed sources.

The FT said that UBS had repeatedly considered selling its US wealth management business off, which is made up mainly of the Paine Webber unit it bought in 2000.

But a spokesperson for UBS, while declining to comment on specific issues in the US business, said: “We remain committed to the wealth management business in the US.”

The FT had said that UBS had contacted senior figures in the financial industry to sound them out over taking a top role in its US brokerage business.

It is not clear whether they were being asked to replace Marten Hoekstra, the head of UBS's wealth management operations in the Americas, or to work alongside him, the report said.

The Swiss bank’s business in the US has been affected by UBS’s legal battle with US authorities over demands by the government to extract client information from UBS. The bank in February agreed to pay $780 million to settle criminal charges that it had helped wealthy US citizens evade tax. The Swiss government has told the bank it must not hand over client details as this would breach bank secrecy.