The UBS Wealth Management Associate Program for 2013 is described by the Swiss bank as a “customised training and job rotation program which aims to provide a foundation for young talents in Asia Pacific seeking to pursue a career in wealth management”.

The course runs for 12 months and includes classroom training at the UBS Business University in Singapore’s Command House, rotating assignments, and on-the-job coaching by managers.

Associates, who complete the programme are awarded a wealth management diploma, equipped with a foundation to embark on a career as a client advisor in Hong Kong and Singapore, the bank said.

The programme is an example of how banks, which have been in a war for talent in the region to keep up with expected demand, are having to breed more talent in-house. To view those courses in wealth management, or post-graduate programmes that touch on the sector, click here.

The complaint that Asia has a shortage of talented wealth managers has been made for some time. In the words of Anuj Khanna, the Singapore-based CEO for South Asia wealth management at Swiss private bank Pictet, quoted by CNBC a few days ago: “We are in a growth industry. There are more and more people with disposable income and they need help managing it."

A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey has shown that hiring experienced wealth managers is bankers' top growth strategy.

So the approach of UBS – which has the financial firepower to afford such a wealth management development programme – makes sense.

“Participants in the program receive an integrated learning experience including ongoing mentorship from senior management which is designed to enhance their technical knowledge, sales and advisory skills, personal and leadership abilities,” Edmund Koh, Singapore country head and chief executive of UBS Wealth Management for southeast Asia and APAC, said.

UBS set up the UBS Business University Asia Pacific in Singapore in 2007.

The institution delivers curricula for client-facing staff with certification programmes such as the Wealth Management Master and the Wealth Management Diploma training.

The Zurich-listed bank said it was the first to win external recognition and accreditation by Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) on its Wealth Management Diploma programme.