UBS Taps Rival in Bid for Multicultural Wealth
The Swiss bank is poaching from a key U.S. rival to bolster its business with wealthy Black, Hispanic, and Asian investors in the U.S.
Zurich-based UBS hired Melinda Hightower as head of a new multicultural client segment set to launch next year, according to a memo seen by finews.asia and first reported by «Business Insider». Hightower has been a senior private banker at J.P. Morgan for the past three years.
UBS said her hire underpins its desire strengthen business with multicultural investors, of which Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian and others represent one of the fastest growing client U.S. wealth segments. A Detroit native, Hightower is to cultivate a multicultural client base as well as help diversify UBS' adviser force in the U.S.
Small Minority Ranks
She will report to U.S. strategic client segments boss Jane Schwartzberg. The wealth management industry in the U.S. and Europe is largely white: just one percent of UBS brokers are Black or African American, according to «Business Insider». UBS' Americas boss and wealth co-head Tom Naratil has vowed to help change this.
Hightower, who studied finance before earning her law degree from the University of Virginia, ran the family office services of Iconiq Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, before her stint at J.P. Morgan. There, she spearheaded strategies for diverse prospects and clients, and championed diversity initiatives and partnerships.
