UBS hires wealth mgmt in Asia 2011

SINGAPORE: Swiss wealth manager UBS has made over 200 new hires in its wealth management unit in Asia-Pacific this year, ramping up its business in the world's fastest growing region for millionaires.

Kathryn Shih, CEO of UBS's Asian wealth unit, told employees in an internal memo that the bank would continue to seek bankers from outside and within to meet its medium-term growth targets.

The latest hire was Peter Tung, a Morgan Stanley banker who is joining as head of ultra-high net worth unit Greater China for UBS, covering Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, the memo said.

The memo came a few months after Juerg Zeltner, chief executive of UBS wealth management, told Reuters in an interview that the bank aims to expand its business in Asia-Pacific at twice the pace of market's growth and is boosting investment in the region.

In March, UBS said it wanted to increase the number of relationship managers to 1,200 from 900 in the medium term as Asia continues to strongly contribute to new money flows.

Asia has become a battleground for global and local private banks, who are competing for market share in a region that is fast outpacing the United States and Europe in economic growth.

Powered by China and India, the Asia-Pacific region's millionaire ranks rose 10 percent to 3.3 million, second only to the 3.4 million residing in North America and inching ahead of Europe, which had 3.1 million, according to the latest annual Merrill Lynch-Capgemini World Wealth Report.

Asia's combined wealth, up 12 percent to $10.8 trillion last year, surpassed Europe and threatens to overtake the United States and Canada, where wealth rose 9 percent to $11.6 trillion.

UBS competes against Citigroup, HBSC as well as domestic players like DBS , which is also expanding aggressively. Bank of Singapore, the private banking unit of OCBC, also hired 200 new staff in 2010.

The UBS memo also mentioned some recent hires for its Greater China business, such as Morgan Stanley's Harry Pang, ex-Macquarie banker Tan Kueh and ex-Citibanker Dennis Koh.

"Since the start of this year, we have made in excess of 200 new hires in the wealth management across Asia-Pacific," Shih said in the memo.

"We will continue to seek both to attract external talent into our ranks and groom existing employees."

Copyright Reuters, 2011