UBS Singapore celebrates handover of 9 Penang Road

Singapore

UBS Singapore celebrated the handover of the 381,000 square feet prime property at 9 Penang Road, from owner of the development, Park Mall Pte Ltd (PMPL), a joint venture between Haiyi Holdings Pte Ltd, SingHaiyi Group Ltd and Suntec Reit, at UBS's Appreciation Night 2019 held at Hotel Fort Canning.

The handover ceremony on Friday was commemorated with the light-up of Singapore's tallest sustainable tree made up of plastic bottles, certified by the Singapore Book of Records. The 12.8-metre tall structure is covered with 6,000 flowers made from 3,000 discarded plastic bottles, which were individually upcycled and handcrafted by volunteers from UBS, LASALLE, Community Foundation of Singapore and community partners.

Present at the ceremony were Celine Tang and Chong Kee Hiong, directors of PMPL. They handed the keys of 9 Penang Road to Edmund Koh, president UBS Asia-Pacific, and August Hatecke, country head UBS Singapore.

As part of UBS's long-term commitment to sustainability, the tree kicks off the bank's Sustainable Arts Programme for Youths, a joint project with the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS), which engages community partners to support and mentor youths by therapeutic learning through art.

Materials used to build this tree will be further repurposed into new works of art, some of which are in UBS's new office.

Mr Hatecke said: "UBS has been in Singapore for close to 50 years and is proud to have been a part of the growth of Singapore as a top financial centre. This handover is a significant milestone as we consolidate over 3,000 colleagues across our wealth management, investment bank and asset management business at 9 Penang Road to enhance collaboration and offer new capacity for future growth in Asia.

"Today, Singapore is one of our top two major international booking centres for UBS's wealth management business in the region and headquarters for UBS's investment banking business in South Asia. The facility will also be home to the UBS University, which provides training and development programmes for employees across the region and the UBS APAC Innovation lab."

He added that UBS has always been a leader in sustainability, and "this latest UBS Sustainable Art Programme for youths in Singapore is an extension of our ongoing commitment to the communities that we conduct business in.

"Over the years, we have seen increasing interest among our Asian clients about sustainable investments."

Mr Hatecke said over US$700 million has been raised from APAC clients "since we launched the world's first 100 per cent sustainable cross-asset portfolio".

UBS plans to move into 9 Penang Road in the second half of 2020.

From now, interior furnishings and fit out works with customised designs will begin. As part of UBS's commitment to the environment, the new building is energy-efficient and built with high-quality environmentally-friendly materials equipped with innovative technology to drive a greener and more efficient future workspace.

In recognition of its sustainable credentials, the building has been awarded Singapore's BCA Green Mark Platinum certification. UBS has also signed a long-term deal with homegrown power player Sembcorp for 100 per cent of UBS's operations in Singapore to run on renewable energy.

The facility will also be home to UBS APAC Innovation Lab and the UBS University, which provides training and development programmes for employees across the region.