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Spotlight - Having spent the first two months of 2019 travelling to see clients across Asia, the Middle East and Europe concern among clients remains and is surprisingly consistent across regions of the world despite one of the strongest rallies in global equities to start a year in the past 30 years. We address the three most asked questions.

Agefi Indices (25.02.2019) - The large amounts of convertible bonds issued in 2018 have created new investment opportunities.

UBP announced today that its Singapore branch, Union Bancaire Privée, UBP SA Singapore Branch (UBP Singapore), has received regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for a wholesale bank license. UBP Singapore expects to commence operations as a wholesale bank from 1 April 2019.

Oil prices are up more than 23% year to date, with WTI increasing by more than USD 11 in under two months, reaching USD 56 towards the end of February.

Thomson Reuters Zawya (21.02.2019) - UBP's emerging markets push into the Middle East and Asia has been helped by the acquisition of former Lloyds and Coutts businesses.

China’s January total new credit (aggregate financing, flow data) reached a record high of RMB4.64trn ($690bn). Our China’s Credit Impulse Indicator finally turned around for the first time in 14 months. Does this signal a return of China’s aggressive reflation policy?

Fund Selector Middle East (18.02.2019) - Dubai expansion plans as Swiss-owned family firm’s asset management arm wins mandates.

Funds Magazine (02.2019) - “Generally, European convertibles have become highly defensive. The risks in investing in this asset class are therefore limited, as economic growth is still relatively solid and the outlook is decent for companies.”

Le Temps (18.02.2019) - According to popular belief in China, the year that has just begun – the Year of the Pig – is likely to be a good one for the financial sector because the pig is a symbol of prosperity.

Spotlight - The dramatic Fed pivot from hawkish in September 2018 to now at worst ‘neutral’ signals that the Fed is reluctant to ‘take away the punchbowl’ completely from the post-2008 economic expansion.

In 2018, UBP started a collaboration with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), a pioneering institution within the University of Cambridge working with influencers to build a sustainable economy.

L'Agefi Indices (28.01.2019) - Current market conditions could prompt investors to adopt methods to protect their equity portfolios.

Finanz und Wirtschaft (26.01.2019) - Gold prices have been supported by safe-haven demand. The as yet unresolved tariff dispute between the US and China and its negative impact on global growth is one factor giving investors the jitters. The elevated equity market volatility is another. And the Brexit confusion, the US government’s partial shutdown and the protracted social unrest in France are adding to the uncertainty.

Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) has established a new asset management unit in Taiwan, UBP Asset Management Taiwan Ltd (UBP Taiwan), having secured a Securities Investment Consulting Enterprises (SICE) business License, with the ability to serve as a Master Agent, from the Financial Supervisory Commission R.O.C (Taiwan) at the end of 2018.

At the press conference on China’s policy easing on January 15, senior officials from People’s Bank of China (PBOC), Ministry of Finance (MOF) and National Development of Reform Commission (NDRC, the state planner) jointly reiterated the message of a deepening counter-cyclical policy to cushion the current economic slowdown.

Le Temps (21.01.2019) - We anticipate a challenging environment for the US dollar for a number of reasons: GDP growth is more constrained (the IMF expects the US to slow from 2.9% in 2018 to 2.5% in 2019), the Fed’s rate-hiking cycle is at a late stage, and US dollar valuations are stretched with the real effective measure 14% above its 10-year average.