At Union Bancaire Privée (UBP), External Asset Managers (EAMs) represent around CHF 20 billion in assets under management (AuM), and so the service and support it provides to EAMs is an important part of UBP’s business. We spoke about UBP’s EAM business in Switzerland with those that lead it.
Can you give a brief overview of UBP’s EAM business?
Frédéric Toselli, Global Head of EAM: The team has roughly 50 members who work in around 10 UBP locations worldwide. Of course, we are supported by the UBP group as a whole, which had CHF 150.8 billion of AuM as of 30 June 2024, and whose solid financial base is often highlighted as one of our major strengths. With a Tier 1 ratio of 27.2% and a short-term liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) of 267.8%, UBP is one of the best-capitalised banks in Switzerland and Moody’s recently confirmed our long-term credit rating of Aa2.
In Switzerland, we operate in Basel, Zurich, Lugano and Geneva. At each of these sites, a Head of EAM oversees specialist Relationship Managers and Account Managers, of which we have around 30 in total. That extensive coverage allows us to focus on the quality of the service we provide to EAMs and clients through our booking centres in Switzerland, making sure that we are aligned with local practices and that we can adjust to local developments.
What makes UBP’s service different?
Patrizia Colombini, Head of EAM Zurich & Lugano: Our EAM department is highly agile and has proven its ability to adjust quickly to a constantly changing market and regulatory environment. Our ethos is based on building partnerships and working with EAMs in a mutually beneficial way, and we have honed our methods for selecting business relationships to ensure that our decisions are aligned with our risk appetite.
We have also strengthened our team so that we can meet our clients’ needs as closely as possible and seize new market opportunities.
Our international presence, underpinned by the expertise of our Compliance Officers, allows us to serve EAMs in several key regions: Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. Our expanded team has enabled us to diversify our client portfolio. In Zurich and Lugano, we have a multilingual and multicultural team of 14 professionals, who ensure that we can communicate effectively with our clients and gain an in-depth understanding of their expectations, regardless of where they are based.
How does UBP ensure close ties and effective co-operation with EAMs?
Anja Karcher, Head of EAM Basel: UBP aims to be a trusted partner that acts as an interface between UBP, EAMs and clients. Our priority is to add value for EAMs and clients. As a family-owned bank, we can take decisions quickly. Clarity of communication is the cornerstone of our relationships. We prioritise personal contact with customised service, and seek to build close ties over a long period. On average, the members of our EAM team in Basel have been serving UBP clients for more than 18 years, and the team has built trusted long-term relationships with its partners.
Some of our clients have been with us for more than 40 years, and we look forward to serving future generations.
Can you give us some examples of recent initiatives that have strengthened UBP’s partnership with EAMs?
Pierre-Emile Schifferli, Head of EAM Geneva: Our client-focused approach, combined with our entrepreneurial mindset, drives us to innovate constantly in order to meet challenges and the increasingly complex requirements of our clients. In 2024, for example, as part of our targeted growth ambitions, we have recruited two Senior Business Developers and several relationship managers who are experienced in working with EAMs.
We have begun several initiatives, including weekly briefings led by our Advisory experts. The briefings provide in-depth analysis of current affairs and the main market trends, while laying out UBP’s investment positioning and main convictions, including practical investment ideas. To give another example, we have introduced breakfast seminars dealing with themes relevant to our partners, in which in-house or external specialists talk about specific topics.
Finally, we are continuing to invest in automating our processes, particularly by adopting the FIX® protocol and becoming a member of the Wecan platform, so that we interact smoothly with our partners in operational terms.
UBP is known for its investment expertise. How do you make the most of that expertise when providing services to EAMs?
Juan Alvarez, Deputy to the Global Head of EAM: Our EAM partners have preferential access to a wide range of investments offered by UBP, including traditional funds, hedge funds and private equity investments. We also rely on our Treasury & Trading (T&T) team, which helps us offer high-value-added services: direct access to our trading desk, combined with proactive monitoring by our dedicated Sales Traders, in order to identify tactical opportunities in the markets.
The T&T department has recently added some senior experts to bolster the services it offers to EAMs. We have set up an online platform that allows EAMs to manage themselves the strategies featured in actively managed certificates (AMCs) issued specifically by UBP for their clients. A “click-and-trade” platform will also soon be available, making it easier to select structured products and execute trades in them.
