Singapore, 26 April 2019 – Invested assets at UBS's wealth management division in Asia Pacific grew to USD 405 billion in the first quarter of 2019, making UBS the first wealth manager in the region to exceed the USD 400 billion milestone.

UBS saw strong growth with record net new money inflows of USD 16.3 billion in the first quarter of 2019, rising from USD 6.3 billion in the same period a year earlier. UBS plans to strengthen its position in the region by sharpening its focus on China, Japan, and Taiwan, as well as its regional wealth management hubs, Hong Kong and Singapore.

With the rise of Asia as a center of wealth creation, this region has the highest number of billionaires in the world. Today, there are 814 billionaires in the Asia Pacific region representing 38 percent of the global billionaire population. Asia Pacific billionaires are likely to be wealthier than their American peers in less than three years, according to the UBS PwC Billionaire 2018 report1. This presents tremendous growth opportunities for wealth managers, and Asia remains one of the most important sources of new business opportunities for UBS globally.

Amy Lo, Co-Head of Wealth Management APAC, UBS Global Wealth Management said "These achievements are thanks to the trust and confidence of our clients and the dedication and hard work of our employees. The market volatility and the outperformance of managed solutions are driving the adoption of investment mandates among UBS private clients. Our global CIO call in early 2019 to stay invested and diversified with an overweight position in equities proved to be the right one, with strong performance for the year so far in mandates reflecting our CIO views. Under our UBS Manage Advance platform, the systematic allocation solution (SAP) portfolio helped to protect clients' money in the fourth quarter of 2018 and benefit from the rally this year. We will continue to remain close to our clients, to protect and grow their wealth by capturing opportunities in the markets and navigating uncertainties in the global economy.”

August Hatecke, Co-Head of Wealth Management APAC, UBS Global Wealth Management, said: “Our strong performance reflects our scale and commitment to Asia Pacific as we have built one of the largest and highest calibre diverse wealth management teams. As the world’s leader in sustainable investment, we are seeing a rising trend amongst our Asia Pacific clients towards sustainable investing. Entrepreneurs, in particular, are becoming more focused on sustainability because they have found that these investments can generate equal or superior investment returns when compared to traditional investments. A good example would be the successful launch of our first 100 percent sustainable investing mandate that attracted over USD 550 million in AUM from our APAC based clients.”

As many of our Asian wealth management clients are entrepreneurs, they require a global bank with not only leading wealth management services but also the capabilities to advise on and execute complex corporate transactions. In conjunction with its strong investment banking team globally and in the region, UBS has been collaborating with many Asia Pacific families for M&A, IPOs, and other capital-raising activities.

UBS Wealth Management is Asia Pacific's leading global wealth manager with USD 405 billion in invested assets and more than 1,000 client advisors in the region. Its footprint spans across 12 wealth management offices in 10 locations and three trading outlets in China belonging to UBS Securities and serving wealth management clients. Last year, UBS AG became the first foreign bank to increase its stake to a majority 51 percent in its China securities joint venture, UBS Securities.

Note

1 UBS PwC Billionaire 2018 report

Media contact

Julie Yeo
(t) +65 6495 5332
(m) +65 9673 4433
(e) julie.yeo@ubs.com

Adeline Lee
(t) +65 6495 8632
(m) +65 9753 2480
(e) adeline.lee@ubs.com