Genevieve Cua

Genevieve Cua

WEALTH EDITOR

Genevieve Cua is wealth editor for The Business Times. She covers wealth management, focusing on issues relating to portfolios, retirement, insurance and healthcare. She writes a fortnightly column, Mind the Gap, and hosts WealthBT podcasts.

Young Jin Yee, co-head of UBS global wealth management for the Asia-Pacific, says UBS has the most diversified footprint among its competitors.

Strong Apac wealth creation boosts UBS’ profitability and assets to new record

The bank is eyeing growth by snagging a share of the US$83 trillion ‘great wealth transfer’

To be a trusted wealth adviser, private banks and advisory firms have to extend themselves into areas not traditionally the domain of banking and investments.
THINKING ALOUD

How advisers can play a trusted role in families’ ‘great wealth transfer’

They must take on a stewardship role, just as families must themselves serve as stewards of their assets and legacy

Renewables are a bright spot for sustainable investment funds, as energy security concerns prompt governments and corporates to diversify their energy sources.
MIND THE GAP

Sustainable investing: Net inflows and relative returns slide

Outflows from the US may not be surprising, but the same is being observed elsewhere in the world

Ascend Asia CEO Tomas Urbanec believes an open architecture is essential in the financial advisory landscape, "because competition spurs product innovation and price discovery".

Ascend Asia acquires three more financial advisory firms

The expansion allows the group to introduce more products under its ‘open architecture’ model, says CEO

Mount Alvernia is now the sole not-for-profit private hospital, but a new one is in the pipeline. It will be a welcome option for those who want more affordable private care.
MIND THE GAP

Shedding light on IP challenges: medical-cost inflation and thin margins

With the IP industry’s profit margin at just 0.5%, commissions and costs to insurers and policyholders are under scrutiny

Singapore's falling birth rate and the rise in the proportion of those aged 65 and older do not bode well for IP insurers' risk pools.
THINKING ALOUD

Demographic trends challenge IP insurers’ sustainability

Singapore is expected to reach ‘super-aged’ status this year, and an ageing population will suffer more chronic diseases and need healthcare

Private wealth portfolios should have an allocation to infrastructure, says Lennart Blecher, chairperson of EQT Real Assets.

Stronger governance and an ‘industrial’ approach drive EQT’s outperformance

The trick is to identify good companies that can be made great by attracting the best people, says chair of EQT Real Assets

The Integrated Shield Plan market has struggled for years with rising premiums and poor profitability, as rising medical inflation and an ageing population have driven up claims.

Some IP insurers hike premiums of base plans for private hospital and A-class wards

This comes after launch of new, cheaper riders which do not cover deductibles, the latest effort to curb ‘buffet syndrome’

MAS will introduce equity counter-cyclical adjustments, designed to reduce procyclical behaviours during sharp market downswings.

Insurers’ search for yield must not compromise policyholder protection, says MAS assistant MD

They must exercise strong risk management and apply robust stress testing, adds the central bank’s assistant MD Marcus Lim

The upheaval in the private debt market due to software-as-a-service exposure is likely to create opportunities in distressed debt.

Robust growth seen for Asia-Pacific private debt

Lighthouse Canton’s Sanket Sinha expects the market to expand by 15-20% a year