The ranks of client advisors at UBS at its Asia-Pacific region has so far this year risen by 8 per cent, the bank said.

UBS has recruited 88 client advisors in the Asia-Pacific region since the start of this year so far, taking the total number to 1,120, a gain of 8 per cent since the end of last year, Switzerland’s largest bank said today.

All of the hires were external, a spokesperson for UBS told this publication when asked about this issue.

As Western banks battle for decisive market share of the region’s fast-expanding ranks of the wealthy, Zurich-listed UBS said the recruitment happened as wealth management assets have risen by 38 per cent to SFr218 billion ($245.5 billion) in the past two years in the region.

“The client advisors are based largely in Hong Kong and Singapore, UBS's key wealth management centres in Asia, bringing the total number of client advisors in the region to 1,120,” the bank said in an emailed statement.

Asia Pacific continues to be one of the fastest-growing regions in the world for UBS and we continue to hire strategically in accordance with the growth needs of the business," Kathryn Shih, chief executive of UBS Wealth Management Asia Pacific, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying in a separate report.

As well as hiring RMs, UBS and some of its rivals, such as BNP Paribas, are looking to develop in-house talent through training and education initiatives in centres such as Hong Kong and Singapore. (See here.) A long-standing headache has been acquiring sufficient talent to keep pace with demand and do so at a relatively affordable price, particularly given rising cost burdens.

According to figures from Capgemini last year, in the annual World Wealth Report sponsored by RBC Wealth Management, Asians with at least $1 million of investable assets – the definition of a high net worth individual – will see total wealth expand to $15.9 trillion by 2015 from $12 trillion in 2012.