UBS Wealth Management Asia-Pacific enjoyed a stellar 12 months last year, due to booming share markets around the world and an influx of new money.
And while the firm had a record year of growth in assets under management, the number of advisers stayed roughly flat.
The Asia-Pacific unit's invested assets rose 28 per cent to 373 billion Swiss francs (S$523 billion) in 2017, the strongest year since 2010, compared with 292 billion Swiss francs in 2016. Net new money surged by 37 per cent to 28.4 billion Swiss francs.
Invested assets have grown at an annual compounded rate of 20 per cent over the past two years, while the number of client advisers has been consistent - 1,016 in 2016 and 1,037 last year.
UBS Wealth Management Asia-Pacific head Edmund Koh said: "We are fortunate in Asia to be in an area of growth. I'm glad that despite competition, we surged ahead in the right way. More of new money is from existing clients than new clients. I'm very proud of the team. More than 90 per cent of clients had a positive experience in their portfolios. I make attempts to see as many as possible and they are very happy - exceptionally so in the last year."
The Asia-Pacific unit made a 21 per cent contribution to the bank's global wealth management division.
The outlook is rosy for this year, added Mr Koh. The overall pace of wealth creation is expected to remain brisk, even as interest rates are likely to creep up. UBS expects three rate hikes in the United States this year, which may influence Singapore Sibor rates.
"We think three-month Sibor would be near 2 per cent a year from now. But corporate earnings will be sustainable and economic growth as well," said Mr Koh.
"Asia should still push its weight even with slightly slower growth in China. Those are good numbers. India should continue to grow and countries in South-east Asia.
"From equities to fixed income... to commodities, prices are showing resilience."
Mr Koh estimates that 65 per cent of net new money last year came from existing clients with the rest from new clients. The influx of funds from new clients should help to propel further asset growth this year. UBS expects to continue with three initiatives begun last year.
The first is the integration of the ONE Wealth Management platform. This US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) effort to standardise the IT system has been rolled out in Singapore and Hong Kong. "It's in the initial stage, but it will become stronger," noted Mr Koh.
Another initiative is UBS Unique, which aims to raise the financial confidence of one million women by 2021. "Women are an emerging force in Asia. Women entrepreneurs and successors (of wealth) are younger, dynamic and very demanding for knowledge but they have different considerations for investments. They are more into impact investing and philanthropy. The demand for consideration of succession very strong."
And there is the China expansion. China domestic wealth management is delivered through UBS Securities and UBS (China). More recently, UBS Wealth Management announced a joint venture with Qianhai Financial Holdings, which is expected to be the vehicle for an online fund distribution business.
