UBS has again won FinanceAsia’s Best Private Bank Award after making the best pitch to a hypothetical high net worth client. To judge th...

UBS has again won FinanceAsia’s Best Private Bank Award after making the best pitch to a hypothetical high net worth client. To judge the award, FinanceAsia constructed a “hypothetical client” situation and asked competing banks to construct a client portfolio. This year, the client was a Hong Kong-based chief executive and a non-resident Indian with an existing asset base of $10 million, including $2 million of insurance and a 3,000 square foot apartment in the city’s Mid-Levels area. The client also had some personal concerns that the private bank also had to address. The client had healthcare costs for an aged mother-in-law without insurance cover, residing with the family in Hong Kong. There were also under-graduate and post-graduate education costs in the US for a teenage son, marriage costs for two teenage daughters and retirement planning, assuming 5 to 1 more years of active work. The client was specifically interested in alternative asset classes and was pondering retirement either in Singapore or back in India. FinanceAsia said one of the key “winning recommendations” from UBS was an offshore life insurance policy designed to maximise tax efficiency post-retirement – an investment “especially useful” in India due to the high tax rates. “UBS made some interesting calls while structuring the hypothetical portfolio,” FinanceAsia said. “This was on account of the bank’s view that both Singapore and India property would deliver better returns. “In India, UBS recommended investing in physical property and in Singapore in REITS, given the complexities involved in managing too much property.” FinanceAsia also paid tribute to an “intangible” in the “experience and maturity” of the UBS team. “The resultant ‘chemistry’ – critical to a private bank-client relationship – worked in the bank’s favour,” the magazine said. “Coupled with creativity shown in structuring a solution, UBS had just the edge required to once again win this award.”