UBS gains FSC approval to launch consulting service
UBS Global Asset Management (Taiwan) Ltd (瑞銀環球資產管理台灣) has received Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) approval to launch a consulting service in Taiwan via an offshore banking unit, which might help generate US$3 billion in three years for its asset management business.
UBS Taiwan, which is to launch the service in July, would be the first bank in Taiwan to apply for the business through an offshore unit.
Targeting people in Taiwan with assets worth more than US$1 million, the wealth management service, UBS Advice, is to focus on consulting, instead of recommendations of single products, UBS Taiwan said in a statement yesterday.
In Taiwan, billionaire wealth surged 14 percent last year from 2013 — faster growth than global figures showed — with the nation accounting for 3 percent of Asia’s net increase in billionaire wealth, indicating strong market potential for the service, UBS Taiwan said, citing data from the Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census.
UBS plans to form a team of more than 100 employees in Taiwan to run UBS Advice, it said.
Clients are to sign a consulting contract, with the bank getting a consultation fee, it said.
Supported by state-of-the-art technology previously available only to institutional clients, UBS Advice may allow customers to negotiate in an increasingly fast moving and risky globally interlinked market, UBS Strategic Investment Taiwan head Chang Lin-yun (張凌雲) said.
Taiwan is to be the third market where the service-based UBS Advice is available, along with Hong Kong and Singapore.
