UBS' Private Bank Scales In Growth Spots

UBS' $2.3 trillion private bank is tapping a pandemic-sparked flight to quality by the world's wealthy. Two of the Swiss bank's biggest growth regions are scaling up on staff.

The Zurich-based bank saw wealthy Latin American clients pour money in from January to April, regional head Sylvia Coutinho told «Bloomberg». One of UBS' highest-profile female executives, Coutinho said UBS booked an 11-fold increase in net new money from the region, where the wealth manager oversees $1.2 trillion in both North and South America.

Coutinho, who chalked up the inflows to a «flight to quality» behavior as coronavirus spread, said she is ready to add advisers as well as consider deals and partnerships to win market share. Her comments come as the Swiss wealth manager scales up in Singapore as well by hiring 300 more people, Asia co-head August Hatecke told «The Business Times».

More Regional Say-So

Both regions' assertiveness comes less than one year into the new co-leadership of Iqbal Khan and Tom Naratil, and five months into an overhaul which gives regional executives like Coutinho, Hatecke and his co-head Amy Lo, or Americas boss Jason Chandler far more say-so.

Singapore boss Hatecke is making use of a job scheme offered by the city-state which aims to get new graduates as well as mid-career professionals into jobs. The 300 new jobs represent ten percent of its current workforce in Singapore.

Bulk of Wealth

UBS doesn't disclose how much assets it manages in Latin America or in Singapore alone; the two wider regions (Americas and Asia-Pacific) represent $1.635 trillion, or nearly three-quarters of the $2.3 trillion it manages on behalf of the wealthy worldwide.

Separately, UBS widened a new offering for the richest of its clients to Asia, after launching it in the U.S. in May, as finews.com reported. The «one-bank» push mimics rivals like Credit Suisse in dedicating investment bankers in its service hubs for wealthy clients, in a bid to cull more Wall Street business from its network of super-rich clients and from family offices.