Accredited facility planned to help Swiss bank keep up with regional demand. UBS plans to open a wealth-management training facility in Singapore. The Swiss megabank says the move is intended to help it keep up with demand for wealth-management services in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The growth of our business and the expansion of the needs of our clients, demand an ever-larger number of ever-more qualified employees," says Kathryn Shih, head of UBS Wealth Management, Asia Pacific. "The campus will be a unique center of excellence for training the individuals necessary to meet this demand as well as a centre to spearhead wealth-management research and innovation."

Keeping up

Spurred by widespread economic growth in the region, liquid assets held by individuals in Asia Pacific not counting Japan are seen growing by 9.7% a year between 2005 and 2010, according to UBS estimates. That compares with an annual projected worldwide growth rate of less than 6% a year through the same period.

Singapore's Institute of Banking & Finance has accredited the UBS "campus" as a financial-training provider and an assessment-service provider in wealth management for high-net-worth clients. The facility, slated to open early in 2007, will feature a lecture hall equipped with video-conference capabilities and voice-activated cameras, five seminar rooms, and a "media lab" for networking and business-technology training.

Once up and running, the campus will enable UBS Wealth Management to increase client advisor numbers by more than 20% a year. UBS expects the campus to provide training for approximately 5,000 existing and future UBS Wealth Management staff between 2006 and 2010.

"With its highly-educated talent pool, robust financial services sector, open regulatory environment and its central bank support for such vocational education initiatives, Singapore is the perfect location for the campus," says Shih. -FWR

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