UBS Wealth Management Americas has launched its Knowledge Center, an online portal to educate users on equity awards and give access to financial planning advice to corporate employees who join equity compensation plans.

UBS Wealth Management Americas has launched its Knowledge Center, an online portal to educate users on equity awards and give access to financial planning advice to corporate employees who join equity compensation plans.

The service is available through UBS One Source, a website for equity plan participants to view consolidated account information, as well as model and transact equity awards.

Such a service is being rolled out so that employees who are in equity compensation plans get an accurate view of what their equity awards are worth, a key issue when such schemes are commonplace in the US, and other countries’, workplaces.

"The Knowledge Center is the result of a yearlong development effort that combined significant research into the educational needs of plan participants, with best practices in adult learning preferences," said Michael Barry, Head of UBS Equity Plan Advisory Services.

The UBS service has a range of materials tailored to individual needs. The information is personalized to each participant by award type, experience with awards, level of financial knowledge, life stage and financial concerns. While the full array of educational materials is available to all participants, the personalized sections recommend features based on the participant's needs and interests.

The firm created fact sheets, guides, and information on topics ranging from the basics of what each type of equity award entails to how equity can be used to reach goals.

Last year, UBS released the Equity Award Value Index to measure how participants see the value of their equity compensation. Such perception is directly proportional to the number of vestings they have experienced.