Winners rationale

2021 was a year of achievements for UBP with remarkable developments across multiple investment products. The broad-based improvements benefited the profitability and AUM in Singapore and built a strong foundation for the growth of the bank’s business in the region.

UBP has translated its segregated multi-asset class DPM portfolios into a transparent, UCITS-compliant unitised fund vehicle, providing a much more convenient channel for clients to invest in the bank’s conviction. The fund was launched in January 2021, blessed by a year full of investment volatility where clients turned their focus on discretionary investments: in less than 12 months, clients invested over US$330 million in this new offering and UBP now has a 34% DPM penetration rate amongst its clients in Singapore, marking an astonishing 207% YoY increase in DPM penetration.

Besides unitising the bank’s DPM offering, UBP catered to clients’ strong interest in private investments: its Private Markets Group (PMG), set up in 2015, offers clients access to exclusive transactions at a threshold as low as US$250,000 and a selection of eight to 10 broad-ranging opportunities offered per year, including high-profile names in aerospace manufacturing, as well as ownerships of art intellectual property (IP) rights and sports clubs. The PMG team currently manages over US$300 million in Singapore, with net inflows growing 114% YoY.

Following the firm’s technology revamp last year, UBP refocused on its FX advisory platform offering and introduced a new FX margining system which offers enhanced margining and netting to sophisticated investors. This development attracted new business from FX-savvy clients and allowed the bank to double its client base on its FX platform in less than a year.

The combination of all these developments allowed the bank to achieve a double-digit expansion of its revenue and a close to 20% increase in AUM, with a double-digit annualised growth in net new assets in Singapore.

The judging panel was impressed by the Swiss pure-play’s progress in building a well rounded product portfolio in Asia, which accurately identified U/HNWI investment appetite in Singapore and expanded the bank’s AUM and DPM book in the process.

For the third consecutive year, Union Bancaire Privée is Asian Private Banker’s Best Private Bank – Singapore for 2021.