Sergio Ermotti Eyes China Boost
According to UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti, «his» bank's focus is primarily on organic growth. He has a very specific region in view.
UBS, the world's largest asset manager, seeks to secure its position through takeovers, but focuses primarily on organic growth. UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti emphasized this on Monday in an interview with «Bloomberg» at a conference in Beijing.
The head of UBS has an eye on China in particular. Switzerland's largest bank wants to strengthen its presence in the rapidly growing country and is considering taking a majority stake in Chinese joint venture companies.
Ahead of Schedule
The timing might be favourable for UBS as China also wants to allow foreign companies to acquire a maximum of 51 percent of the shares in joint ventures and to lift this limit altogether over the next three years.
The next growth step in wealth management will come from China, says Ermotti. Against this backdrop, the Swiss bank is investing heavily in staff. At the end of the current year, UBS plans to employ around 1,200 people in China. This would be ahead of schedule announced in 2016 to double the workforce within five years.
