The world's largest wealth management house is opening a major new office in Kowloon as it aims to boost earnings from entrepreneurs in this part of the jurisdiction.

UBS is expanding its Hong Kong market reach with a new office, targeting the wealth management market for entrepreneurs in Kowloon and New Territories, aiming to significantly increase business in this part of the Asian jurisdiction.

The Zurich-listed firm aims to expand assets under management among Kowloon entrepreneurs from its current single-digit percentage share of the total market to a double-digit percentage in the next few years, Jean-Claude Humair, regional market manager, Hong Kong, UBS Wealth Management, told this publication.

The firm has operated in Hong Kong for more than 50 years and has 9-10 per cent share of the Hong Kong domestic market. Hong Kong is the market outside Switzerland in which UBS has the largest domestic market share, Humair continued.

The new office, in Kowloon, which is to be opened in the first quarter of 2016, has a total of 23,000 square foot of space and two floors. It can hold up to 100 employees and UBS initially plans to have around 50 people working in it; 30 of these people will be client advisors. Among that number, 20 of them will be from UBS’s current client advisor group and the firm intends to hire 10 more such advisors this year. (The firm has added 100 advisors in Hong Kong during 2014, so some of that recruitment has been planned with the new expansion in mind.)

Kowloon/New Territories account for about a third of UBS’s Hong Kong market, with the balance in central Hong Kong, Humair said.

“We wanted to plant a flag in the ground to let them [entrepreneurs] know that we are committed to the local market and we are here for them,” he said.

There will not be much chance of people missing the new office: the advertising banner on the front of the building will be 12 floors tall, Humair said.

“The move is also to let people know of our commitment to Hong Kong,” he said.

As far as segmentation and strategy is concerned, Humair said the “sweet spot” for clients of UBS is those Kowloon entrepreneurs who have between $5 million of assets under management and $25 million (although the bank’s threshold of $2 million hasn’t changed).

UBS will be looking at serving clients in all respects, mainly in three areas: personal investment management, corporate financing including fundraising, IPOs, acquisitions, and family advisory such as succession planning, wealth planning and philanthropy, he said.

The new office is in One Peking Road, TST.