The Geneva-headquartered private bank has already set out its growth goals for Asia and, in this report, has expanded its aims.

Union Bancaire Privée intends to increase its expansion in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area after logging substantial growth in the region, its chief executive is quoted as saying in a news story.

“If you look at the growth profile of UBP over the last five or six years, about 75 per cent of our growth in Asia has come from the Greater China region,” CEO Guy de Picciotto (pictured) told the South China Morning Post, published yesterday. The article said this was de Picciotto’s first visit to the city in four years. 

“Before I came here, everybody told me I would see how Hong Kong has changed,” de Picciotto said. “Fortunately, I have not seen that change. Hong Kong is still full of energy. It is a booming city where every person is busy in doing business.”

UBP will also expand in Singapore, as de Picciotto believes that both cities will help the private bank capture opportunities in Asia as a whole, the article said.

This publication has contacted UBP to confirm details, and may update in due course.

As reported here, the bank intends to boost its Asia wealth management team's headcount by 50 per cent. In October, UBP said it had already met two-thirds of the hiring target.

UBP has two offices in China, one in Shanghai and the other in Haikou in the southern Hainan province. The rest of its Asia presence spans Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and Taiwan.

Like several Swiss banks, Asia is an important hunting ground for UBP. In May this year, UBP announced that it had acquired 100 per cent of the shares issued by Angel Japan Asset Management, a Tokyo-based independent investment advisor specialising in the Japanese small-cap equities space. Since 2005, UBP has had a presence in Tokyo, operating through UBP Investments, which provides asset management services covering traditional assets and alternative investments to clients based in Japan, as well as to global investors seeking to build Japanese exposure.

UBP has made senior appointments in Asia, as reported here.
 

(Editor's note: It will be interesting to see how much of UBP's recruitment will be organic and home-grown and how many of the recruits come from rival banks, or banks being absorbed via M&A, most notably Credit Suisse.)