UBS hopes to boost wealth management profits through private markets, digital client engagements

AS global uncertainties push clients to the sidelines, Zurich-based bank UBS is working to revive profits for its wealth management business by engaging its clients with digital content and private market products.

The bank’s global wealth management segment had disappointed with a first-quarter profit before tax of US$1.31 billion, down 7 per cent year on year.

This fall was led by a 19 per cent decline in transaction-based income, to US$954 million, which the company attributed to weak sentiment.

At the global launch event for its UBS Circle One app on Tuesday (May 24), August Hatecke, co-head of UBS Wealth Management Apac, said that pressures in Chinese markets and the war in Ukraine were among the factors that have pushed investors on to the sidelines.

To bring these investors back, Hatecke noted that the bank wants to provide digital reports and information to them.

“(Our clients) don’t want to call the client advisor all the time to ask what happens, so this actually fits right away into that space,” he said.

Hatecke added that UBS has already moved clients into alternative investments such as private credit and private equity to help them diversify their portfolios and make them less dependent on public markets, which have seen increased volatility.