Private Banks

UBS posts strong Q1 results for Asia-Pacific

UBS' Asia-Pacific business achieved its best-ever quarterly wealth management performance in the first three months of the year.

In an article in The Straits Times, it was reported that UBS announced the results yesterday as it officially moved into its new office at 9 Penang Road in Singapore - the bank's largest centre in the region.

Profit before tax for its Asia-Pacific arm rose 21 per cent year on year to USD 900 million (SGD 1.2 billion) for the three months to March 30.

Assets under management reached an all-time high of USD 761 billion (SGD 1 trillion), up 40 per cent year on year, while invested assets under the global wealth management unit jumped 42 per cent to USD 576 billion.

 

Asia-Pacific president Edmund Koh said: "Asia-Pacific started off the year at a record pace, achieving the region's best-ever first-quarter performance... on the back of strong markets and higher client activity. Asia-Pacific is a key growth area for UBS and today it contributes 37 per cent of the group's profit before tax."

 

He added that Singapore is one of the bank's top two wealth management centres in the region and the South-east Asian headquarters for the investment bank. It is also the regional hub for foreign exchange, rates and credit.

The new space accommodates the bank's 3,000 or so employees and provides client lounges across 400,000 sq ft.

It also hosts the UBS university campus, which provides areas for clients and staff to take virtual and physical classes, and the bank's first global cyber-fusion centre, a facility that brings together information security technology to mitigate online risks. An innovation hub with technologies like virtual reality and artificial intelligence to focus on the future economy has been set up as well.