UBS Wealth Management is to launch a new office in Israel as part of its plans to become one of the major players in the country.

The new base will offer both domestic and international investment management services to both foreign and domestic clients under in one location. The Swiss giant has been active in Israel’s wealth management market since 1996 and has grown to a staff roster of 70 since then.

“UBS is acting on a vision of becoming one of Israel’s most prominent wealth management investment houses,” Kobi Faigenbaum, chief executive of UBS Wealth Management Israel, said at a press conference in Tel Aviv yesterday.

UBS is not the only Swiss firm to have ambitions for Israeli market; at the end of last year it emerged that Julius Baer is soon to open a representative office in Tel Aviv with an initial staff of around a dozen employees.

The attractions of Israel for wealth management firms are manifold. The country is a preferred jurisdiction for many foreign residents, who invest in Israeli real estate and in public and private companies, and also hold funds in Israeli banks. It is also a popular country for HNW immigration due to its special tax environment: foreign investors enjoy generous tax benefits, while new immigrants and returning expatriates get a 10-year tax holiday on foreign-source income.

Additionally, the Israeli economy is resilient, globally oriented and based heavily on foreign trade, especially in such high added-value areas as information technology, biotechnology, aerospace and defence.