Singapore, 17 November – UBS is celebrating 50 successful years in Singapore with the official opening of its largest Asia Pacific office at 9 Penang Road. In the launch ceremony officiated by Axel A. Weber, Chairman of the Board of Directors UBS Group AG and Ralph Hamers, UBS Group CEO, the bank marked the occasion with clients, employees, and community activities in Singapore.
Singapore’s Minister for Finance, Lawrence Wong, was the guest-of-honor for the event, while distinguished guests in attendance included Swiss Ambassador to Singapore, Fabrice Filliez, as well as Founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies, and three-term Mayor of the City of New York, Michael Bloomberg. In addition, well wishes poured in from many across the world, including Mercedes AMG-Petronas Formula One Driver Lewis Hamilton.
Ralph Hamers, UBS Group Chief Executive Officer said: “As the first Swiss bank in Singapore, we’re proud to celebrate our 50th anniversary of UBS Singapore. The Asia Pacific region continues to be a strategic priority for our firm, and I sincerely thank our clients and my UBS colleagues for their ongoing commitment. In the last half a century, Singapore has grown to be one of our top wealth management centres in Asia Pacific and our Investment Bank’s South-east Asian headquarters. I’m confident that UBS Singapore will continue to play a key role in helping us achieve our ambitious growth and sustainability goals, such as achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions across all our operations by 2050.”
A rising interest in sustainable investments among investors has led Asia’s sustainable bond market to grow rapidly over the past five years, and Singapore has benefited from this. Singapore remains an important financial center for the region and today, half of the international ESG bonds in Asia are listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
Edmund Koh, UBS Asia Pacific President said: “The growth of UBS in Singapore is a reflection of the country’s success as an international finance hub. Singapore is the bank’s gateway to this region, bringing together people and ideas across the global UBS network. With the rise of Asian wealth, UBS has been the bank for Asian entrepreneurs, family offices and fast-growing tech firms. Looking ahead, we expect ASEAN’s new economy to more than double to USD800 billion by 2025, from USD380 billion. One example is how we are connecting the growing number of technology unicorns across the region. To this end, we are proud to launch TechConnect South-East Asia (SEA) in Singapore, which will help connect technopreneurs to our global network of clients, capital and expertise.”
August Hatecke, Country Head of UBS Singapore and Co-Head of Wealth Management Asia-Pacific said: “As a global bank linking Singapore to the rest of the world, we are also proud to play a role in developing talent and connecting ideas that drive progress and innovation. Singapore is home to our first and largest UBS University in Asia Pacific, which has groomed some of the top bankers in APAC out of Singapore. In addition, the innovation sandbox environment in Singapore has given us the ideal setting to pilot a new global initiative – Circle One – an app being developed out of Singapore by our local talent which will connect investors to ideas on a global ecosystem.”
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