This publication wishes all our readers a very happy new year!

UBS global wealth management has appointed Desmond Kuek as divisional vice chairman, based in Singapore. 

Kuek joins the Swiss firm on 18 February and reports to Joe Stadler, the head of ultra-high net worth wealth management at the firm, and to Edmund Koh, president of UBS in Asia-Pacific.

Over a career spanning more than 35 years, Kuek has held leadership positions in the corporate world, public sector and military; and most recently as president and group chief executive of Singapore Mass Rapid Transit Corporation.

Prior to that, he held roles as Permanent Secretary at Singapore's Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Chief of Army and Chief of Defence Force. Kuek also served on the boards of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd and its subsidiaries, Defence Science and Technology Agency, Housing and Development Board, Jurong Town Corporation, International Enterprise Singapore and the Civil Service College.

To view another recent UBS appointment, see here. UBS issued its fourth-quarter 2018 and full-year financial results earlier in January.