2018 U.S.-Booked Air Volume: $73 million
2018 Global T&E: $425 million
Consolidated Global TMC: BCD
BTN estimates that investment bank and financial services firm UBS's U.S.-booked air volume rose nearly 9 percent in 2018. The firm's global T&E held steady, even as general and administrative expenses declined 2.2 percent, according to its annual report. Operating income rose from $29.6 million in 2017 to $30.2 million in 2018. UBS last year unveiled its nextgen Open Booking service. BCD agent teams in Zurich, London and New York, which account for 90 percent of UBS's travel, handle company calls and are available 17 hours per day, five days per week. Those agents all use the same technology, meaning a booking can be managed in any of the three centers, and they all follow a universal corporate policy except in cases where local laws or employee agreements require deviation. The model has enabled UBS to deploy travel processes and technology more quickly. UBS reported more than 68,000 employees worldwide as of the end of 2018, about a third of them in Switzerland, up from 62,000 as of the end of 2017.