Zurich/Basel, 3 June 2015 – UBS today launched EVOLVE – UBS Centre for Design Thinking and Innovation in Singapore, the first of its kind for UBS in Asia Pacific. Located at the UBS Business University Asia Pacific, EVOLVE will be focused on creating new innovative and user-centric products to meet the evolving needs of our wealth management clients. The launch ceremony, officiated by Juerg Zeltner, President of UBS Wealth Management and guest-of-honour Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, marked this milestone, the latest step in our digital journey after establishing innovation labs in Zurich and London.
According to the UBS PwC 2015 Billionaire Report, Asia is set to become the centre of billionaire growth, with billionaire wealth in Asia set to surpass that of the US in the next five to 10 years. The Innovation Centre supports this growth by creating the next generation of industry and digital skill competencies, innovating and developing future business capabilities for the wealth management industry. It also functions as a centre for the sharing of best practices and ideas among academia, innovation partners, industry experts and clients. This will help to catalyze innovative ideas, generate client insights, and commercialize new market solutions to drive Singapore's next phase of development as a leading wealth management hub in the digital space.
Juerg Zeltner, President of UBS Wealth Management said, “We are launching our new Innovation Centre in one of the most tech-savvy cities in the world, Singapore, at the heart of our fast-growing wealth management franchise in Asia Pacific.
“Digitalization and innovation are strategic priorities for UBS and we intend to meet and exceed client expectations by offering a seamless blend of both digital and personal channels to access our advice and capabilities. Banks that master digitalization from front to back will be at the forefront – we have invested in a digital platform that allows us to offer the most advanced functionality and efficiently integrate new technologies, enabling us to offer our clients a truly personalized digital experience."
Edmund Koh, Country Head of UBS Singapore and Head of Wealth Management Southeast Asia and APAC Hub said, "It makes me proud that we are launching UBS's first Innovation Centre in Asia Pacific here in Singapore. The government's strong support of the FinTech industry, complemented by world-class infrastructure and global connectivity, creates a conducive environment for UBS's innovation advancements to flourish. We are honoured to have the support of the Monetary Authority of Singapore in the launch of the UBS Centre for Design Thinking & Innovation."
As the next step in its digital journey in Asia Pacific, UBS is also rolling out its new digital service – the UBS-Wealth Management app – in response to increasing client preferences for digital solutions in Asia. Clients want better and faster access to UBS know-how, our investment specialists and client advisors, to drive their investment performance. With this new digital offering, our clients are empowered with better access to the knowledge and expertise across the bank, customized to their portfolio, which they can then act on. Our clients will be able to receive timely portfolio health checks, UBS Impact articles that are customized to their portfolios and benchmark their portfolio performance with our UBS CIO House View – all at the touch of a button.
Piloted to selected clients since the start of 2015, the UBS Wealth Management app leverages the intelligence of our internally developed state-of-the-art investment technology to deliver tailored content and customized advice to our clients anytime. This technology tracks a client’s portfolio, tests it against critical risk factors and flags when it deviates from the client’s investment strategy. This complex process requires massive infrastructure and huge computing power. But it can be tracked and delivered to a client when he or she wakes up every morning.
Ketan Samani, Chief Digital Officer APAC said, "We believe Asian clients are more digital than in other parts of the world, with almost 40% preferring digital contact over direct contact. We need to be ahead of the curve in anticipating the needs of our clients in offering better and faster ways of accessing our services. At the heart of this is our new Innovation Centre which allows us to co-create with clients and industry experts to develop solutions based on our clients' needs. It was a key factor in the design of our new UBS Wealth Management app where we continue to enhance the product offering based on our clients' feedback. This paves the way toward creating customized solutions for our clients, and enables us to keep pushing the digital boundaries for the wealth management industry."
EVOLVE – our new Innovation Centre in Asia Pacific complements our first wealth management innovation lab established in Zurich last year and the recently-opened innovation lab in Level 39 in London to research bank-wide topics. These centres form the foundation of an innovation ecosystem that enables a strategic orchestration of new technologies and innovation for our wealth management clients.
WM INNOVATION LAB IN ZURICH - The UBS WM Innovation team seeks to understand the complex lives of tomorrow's clients and to anticipate their needs and behaviours. The team not only monitors the digital landscape – it shapes it by conceiving and helping to implement new business models. Comprising former start-up founders, IT specialists, designers, project managers and former client advisors, the team works on creating concrete new business opportunities which it validates with potential users.
UBS INNOVATION LAB AT LEVEL39 - UBS has selected Level39, Canary Wharf Group’s technology accelerator space, to house one of its dedicated innovation labs. The lab is led by a team of FinTech specialists looking at how UBS can further foster innovation as a key driver for business growth. Among other initiatives, UBS investigates Blockchain and other Distributed Ledger technologies along with Smart Contracts and works on potential new applications in its lab. By creating a dedicated lab for FinTech innovation at Level39 – Europe’s largest technology accelerator for the financial, cyber, retail and smart cities technologies – UBS is able to explore new technologies in partnership with others and is fully involved in the innovation ecosystem.
About UBS
UBS draws on its 150-year heritage to serve private, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as retail clients in Switzerland. Its business strategy is centered on its pre-eminent global wealth management businesses and its leading universal bank in Switzerland. Together with a client-focused Investment Bank and a strong, well-diversified Global Asset Management business, UBS will expand its premier wealth management franchise and drive further growth across the Group.
UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in more than 50 countries, with about 35% of its employees working in the Americas, 36% in Switzerland, 17% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 12% in Asia Pacific. UBS employs about 60,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
UBS AG
Media contact
Julie Yeo, phone +65 6495 5332, mobile +65 9673 4433, julie.yeo@ubs.com
Andreas Kessler, phone +41 44 236 51 06, mobile +41-79-710 95 72, andreas.kessler@ubs.com
Fabio Sonderer, phone +41 44 234 21 13, mobile +41-79-464 88 68, fabio.sonderer@ubs.com
