Many believe that legislation written primarily by Phil Gramm in 1999 (signed into law by Clinton), is in large part to blame for leading to the 2008 mortgage crisis. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is perhaps most famous for repealing the Glass-Steagall Act which regulated the financial services industry. The legislation allowed Swiss Bank UBS to purchase several American institutions. Gramm later became a lobbyist for UBS, collecting over 750,000 USD in fees. UBS alone issues over 18 Billion USD in subprime mortgages. He was John McCain’s presidential campaign co-chair and his most senior economic adviser from summer 2007 to July 18, 2008.
In a July 9, 2008 interview explaining McCain's plans in reforming the U.S. economy, Gramm explained the nation was not in a recession, stating, "You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," and "We have sort of become a nation of whiners, you just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline." Gramm's comments immediately became a campaign issue. "McCain strongly denounced Gramm's comments. On July 18, 2008 Gramm stepped down from his position with the McCain campaign. However, he often accompanies McCain during the campaign, and continues to be an unofficial adviser on economic and financial matters.

The biggest bank in Switzerland, UBS, is expected to announce a further round of job cuts on Thursday, axing about 1,900 in its various departments like investment banking, equities and fixed income units. The UBS has suffered the biggest losses from the credit crisis among all the European banks. The cuts which are likely to be announced at a shareholders’ meet are said to represent about 10 per cent of the group's total investment banking staff and would also hit support staff jobs according to experts. So far UBS had to write down $44.2 billion dollar, the biggest amount for any European bank.

Gramm continues to be employed as a UBS vice chairman regarding investment banking.