UBS chairman Axel Weber has detailed the Swiss bank's long-term plans in China where the firm is developing several initiatives.
While concerns over the economic slowdown in China have been somewhat diluted, there are still major concerns on the country's high debt levels and the ongoing geopolitical spat in East Asia. Standard and Poors also downgraded China's long-term sovereign credit rating by one notch this week. Axel Weber, chairman of Switzerland's largest bank UBS, remains confident however on the long term outlook and prospects for the world's second-largest economy.
In an interview with US-TV channel «CNBC» Weber said «When many of the markets looked at China as being volatile, we actually decided to double our headcount in mainland China, which shows a long-term continuous commitment.»
Chinese Moves
Backing up his talk, Weber's bank recently poached Catherine Cai from Citigroup, where she was chairman and head of China investment banking. UBS has shaken up its investment banking unit in recent months in the region. David Chin returned to the bank amid a wider management shake-up under the guidance of Andrea Orcel, the chairman of the division.
Chin was a 21-year veteran of the Swiss bank before he leaving to become a lecturer at the University of Hong Kong two years ago. UBS will be looking to Chin to restore calm after a flurry of exits in recent months including that of Jiang Guorong and Alison Harding-Jones.
First Mover
The Swiss bank, which is also Asia's largest wealth manager said earlier this month that it would launch its first Chinese private fund by year-end.
The bank is completing its range of products in a bid to become even more entrenched in the fast-growing financial market. UBS was the first non-Chinese bank to receive the license to sell funds in China, which was reported by finews.asia in July.
