Swiss-based Union Bancaire Privee (UBP) has reported its assets under management increased by 7.5% last year, which the firm attributed to its external growth strategy.
UBP’s chief executive officer, Guy de Picciotto, said the investments the firm had made in its asset management division were “bearing fruit”.
The firm reported assets under management of 118.3 billion francs (€110.3 billion) as of December 31, 2016, up from 110 billion francs the previous year.
The rise was mainly due to higher assets in Asia. Asia was described as a growth centre for institutional and private clients.
There were also significant inflows of 1 billion francs from the firm’s existing institutional clients.
De Picciotto said the additional assets offset outflows that were due to “tax regularisations” in regions including Europe and Latin America, as well as adjustments made following the integration of clients from Coutts International, which the firm acquired last year.
UBP also enjoyed net profits of 176.4 million francs last year which it said demonstrated a “marked improvement” in the profitability of the group, as it brought down the cost-to-income ratio by almost 1.5 percentage points.
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