The world's largest wealth management firm put more detail on figures from its Asian operations for 2017.

UBS, which reported fourth-quarter and full-year figures across its business lines a few days ago, has reported on specific results for its Asia-Pacific arm, saying assets rose by a record $95 billion to $382.8 billion.

Net new money for this side of the business rose by $28. billion last year, a rise of $50.1 billion since 2015, UBS said in a statement yesterday.

"The results continue the bank's positive growth trajectory in the region in recent years. Over the last two years, UBS WM APAC invested assets grew at a compound annual rate of 20 per cent, even as client advisor numbers have remained relatively consistent," it said.

Invested assets rose to $382.8 billion (SFr373 billion), gaining 28 per cent year-on-year, the Zurich-listed bank said. The Asia-Pacific business contributed 21 per cent of the global wealth management operation, UBS continued.  

"Asia Pacific is a key driver for the global economy as well as our business. We seek to continue our track record of consistently strong growth, and will continue to expand our scale and footprint to capture new opportunities in the region." said Edmund Koh, Head UBS Wealth Management Asia Pacific.

Along with peers such as Credit Suisse and Julius Baer, UBS has made development of its Asia business a significant focus. In areas such as Hong Kong, for example, the firm has embarked on a hiring drive (Kowloon, New Territories, other.)

The lender has also recently restructured its global and Americas wealth management operations, blending them into a single structure, as reported here. UBS said its Americas wealth management business would be merged with its international equivalent. The combined operation now has two co-presidents – Martin Blessing, the head of the current wealth management unit, and Tom Naratil, president of UBS Americas.

For the overall group wealth management business, adjusted pre-tax profits stood at SFr1.025 billion ($1.06 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2017, up 18 pre cent year-on-year, as reported previously. This was due to higher invested asset levels, increased transaction activity and inflated short-term US dollar interest rates, which, coupled with loan growth, led to a rise in all revenue lines, it said.

UBS Wealth Management recently announced a joint venture with Qianhai Financial Holdings. UBS said the deal makes it the first wealth manager to establish a presence in the Qianhai free trade zone. It has also launched a new unified operating platform in Hong Kong and Singapore that combines the firm’s regional and global offerings in a central hub.