UBS to invest up to $350m in APAC: Zeltner

UBS wealth management CEO Jürg Zeltner said
the bank is to grow its investments in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) area
to 3-5% of its total income in the next few years.

This means UBS will inject up to CHF350m
($358m) in the region, based on an estimated annual total income of
CHF7bn at the wealth management division.

 

The importance of APAC

In a message to UBS staff, Zeltner underlined
the importance of the APAC market for UBS’s future development.

In the first quarter of 2012, net new money
(NNM) in the wealth management businesses more than doubled to
CHF6.7bn, compared to the same period of the previous year.

Of this CHF6.7bn, 80% of the NNM – CHF 5.4bn –
came from the APAC region.

 

Europe struggles
on

Successful in Asia, UBS is losing in Europe,
where the bank experienced a CHF1bn drop in assets in Q1 2012.

“We are also making changes in Europe to
position ourselves for growth in the long term, but this will take
time,” said Zeltner.