The wealth management arm of Switzerland's UBS has appointed from within to boost its global emerging markets team.

UBS Wealth Management has appointed Lucas Wilson as vice chairman within its global emerging markets team in London.

In the newly created role, Wilson will be responsible for further building the ultra-high net worth and global family office franchise within the bank's London GEM team. He will focus on developing new client relationships while enhancing relationships with existing clients.

The global emerging markets unit provides a range of wealth management solutions to international clients in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

Wilson has 35 years of investment banking experience with UBS and its predecessor firm SG Warburg. He has held several senior positions within UBS Investment Bank, many with a GEM focus, including head of investment banking for Austria and Central & Eastern Europe, head of investment banking for Russia, head of investment banking for Asia and head of the UHNW-focused corporate owners group.

Wilson will report to Nick Perryman, head of wealth management, global mmerging markets London, and Caroline Kuhnert, head of wealth management GEM UHNW. He will also become a member of the GEM London and GEM UHNW management committees.

“Our international clients come to UBS in the UK for the combination of our specialism and expertise in this market, and our ability to draw on the insights and resources of our global network. Lucas epitomises this sentiment with his wealth of experience in cross-divisional co-operation within UBS. We believe that Lucas will be instrumental to the UHNW growth of GEM London,” said Perryman. 

The latest appointment follows those of Sofia Sool and Abdallah Najia, who became head of wealth management for Central and Eastern Europe and head of Middle East and North Africa, respectively, within the GEM London team, as this publication exclusively reported in September.

In UBS's recent third-quarter results, it posted a 15 per cent quarter-on-quarter decline in operating pre-tax profit at its wealth management arm to SFr639 million ($637 million). At the wealth management business in the Americas, operating profit was SFr259 million, up 36 per cent.