UBS Wealth Management has launched a new service for Singapore-based expatriates, the Resident Foreigner Team, which will provide specialised financial services to 'this underserved segment of the Singapore community', according to the company.
The team will be headed by Sean Straton (pictured), desk head, resident foreigner team, UBS Wealth Management Singapore, who joins from Credit Suisse, where he was team leader for Indonesia. Prior to that, Straton was head of Westpac Private Bank, Singapore. Straton reports to Eddie Gan, managing director, market head, Singapore at UBS Wealth Management. "Foreign residents living in Singapore are generally very busy with their time building and running businesses and so they value discretionary solutions where they give the bank a mandate to professionally manage a portfolio for them," said Straton. "They tend to be very global in their perspective and expect investment advice across regions such as Asia, Europe, the US and emerging markets.
"Our clients' needs are often quite sophisticated, and they tend to be attracted to our alternative offerings such as private markets, hedge funds, private equity where UBS clearly has a leading edge," said Straton. "Our strategy is to structure products based on clients' needs. We will continue UBS's long tradition of working closely with high net worth clients who demand access to a global platform with a comprehensive range of financial and investment solutions including planning for children's education and saving for retirement, key concerns for foreign residents in Singapore."
Singapore's political stability, a robust regulatory framework, access to a highly skilled and cosmopolitan workforce as well as first-class infrastructure, including the latest technological platforms, produce a favourable environment for financial institutions, according to Straton.
The country's status as a wealth management hub for the region has corresponded closely with the exponential growth of wealth in Asia, 'together with Hong Kong, rank highly after Switzerland as an international wealth management centre of choice for UBS' clients', according to Straton. "We expect Asia to remain the growth engine for both our business and, more broadly, for the industry as a whole in 2017," said Straton. "While Singapore and Hong Kong remain our two key booking centres in Asia, we expect the domestic businesses, especially those in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, China and Taiwan, to become increasingly important."
UBS Wealth Management has CHF292bn ($292bn) in assets under management (AUM) and more than 1,000 client advisors in the region. UBS marketed 695 products in Apac in 2016, including non-retail, leverage or flow products with estimated sales of US$7.3bn, according to SRP data. The Swiss bank has issued 338 products and sold over US$3.6bn in 2017.
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