Miami enjoys special status at UBS. As does one of Stefano Veri’s young bankers. She will now get to run her own unit in Florida, according to information obtained by finews.com.
The financial markets is in thrall with Iqbal Khan’s plans for UBS Wealth Managment, with observers analyzing his every twist and move. All the while, out of the limelight, Stefano Veri is building his own wealth-management empire at Switzerland's largest bank.
Veri (pictured below) is one of only a few group managing directors at UBS and has been in charge of the FIM unit in wealth management for more than five years. In FIM, UBS concentrated the business with external wealth managers.
Uncharted Territory
The business has since expanded and no longer focuses only on Swiss wealth managers. FIM also caters to international clients from the offices in Zurich, Geneva and Hamburg. In Europe, its has another eight branches plus one each in Hong Kong and Singapore. In the autumn of 2020, Veri introduced a regional structure to the business.
Now, the banker is about to extend his reach to territory uncharted so far: the U.S. A team of some ten relationship managers will launch a branch in Miami, the capital of Florida, Veri told finews.com. The necessary license for such a business are due.
Spot-On Timing on Latam
The focus of the bankers based in Florida will be firmly on Latin American independent wealth managers. The timing for this is spot-on: the talk in financial circles and among lawyers is of Miami being inundated with assets from Latin America. The U.S. may have hunted down tax dodgers across the world and punished bankers serving them, but at the same time the country has become a preferred destination for money from less-than-transparent origins.
Veri proclaims not to be interested in such moneys: «We have built our FIM business in Miami on the basis of our compliance rulebook,» he said. «We are very comfortable with our robust examination methods.»
From Chief of Staff to Head of Region
Veri has put Mariana Gregori (pictured below) in charge of the new unit in Miami. She will build and then lead the new team. Gregori joined Veri’s group in 2015 as his chief of staff.
She must have convinced Veri to an extent that he last year decided to put her in charge of FIM International and mandated her with writing a strategy for Latin America. The idea of opening up shop in Miami must have been high up on the priority sheet – a place incidentally where UBS enjoys status of a well-established bank.
No Competitor in the Field
«We expect some very dynamic growth,» said Gregori. The Miami branch will generate between 20 and 30 percent of FIM International’s business, according to the plan of the bank. An expansion into other jurisdictions is under consideration, but UBS first wants to take advantage of Latin American clients proximity to and penchant for the U.S. market.
The bid to conquer the U.S. market seems well considered, because although U.S. banks may also offer their services to independent wealth managers, they treat them like any other private client.
At UBS, the services go far beyond the mere custodial business. The Swiss bank not only is the biggest wealth manager for private clients, but quite probably also the biggest service provider to external wealth managers overall. «Our big advantage in Miami is that we have no competitor with a comparable service model,» said Gregori.
Global Trend to Independent Advice
Under the guidance of Veri, FIM developed into a considerable growth provider for global wealth management. The unit is part of the business of Anton Simonet, the head of wealth management Switzerland.
«Among clients of wealth management, there is a global trend to get independent advice. We believe that a strong FIM business is the best way to manage the independence of clients,» said Veri.
Faster Than Wealth Management
Veri didn’t provide growth figures or the amount of money the unit is managing, safe for the fact that the FIM business is growing faster than wealth management and that his crew is managing well above 100 billion francs in assets.
The big advantage of doing business with this type of client as opposed to private clients is that the easier scaleability of the FIM business. From a certain critical mass, the business therefore is much more profitable than the classic wealth management.
