Awards for Excellence 2018
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Also shortlisted |
Credit Suisse |
Julius Baer |
| View full 2018 results |
It has already been an eventful 2018 for UBS. At the beginning of the year, the bank’s chief executive, Sergio Ermotti, announced that UBS would integrate the international wealth management business with UBS Wealth Management Americas – something the bank had implied it would never do.
Did it pay off? Well, the bank’s profits before tax rose 17% year on year in the first quarter on the back of new records in the Americas and Asia Pacific.
The combined unit is co-headed by Tom Naratil and Martin Blessing.
Naratil, who formerly headed UBS Americas, says that the united business brings a focus that had not been there previously and that the wealth manager’s aim is to serve clients with global needs.
“It’s hard to see a future that isn’t more global – not less. And through the integration, our teams around the world are now conversing more,” says Naratil. “You could call it intellectual capital arbitrage. If a deal is done in Switzerland, the team can reach out to the US and convert that into an opportunity there.