 |
|
| Best Wealth manager: UBS Wealth Management |
|
| Also shortlisted: BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse Private Bank |
It has once again been a challenging year for those managing assets for the world’s wealthy. Despite the recent back-up, fixed-income yields remain low. "You can’t think in terms of cash and bonds," says Jürg Zeltner, CEO of UBS Wealth Management. "Cash is expensive, the risk-return profile in the bond markets is unattractive – especially in some European government bonds." And although many developed equity markets have performed well, emerging market equities have generally struggled and there has recently been increased volatility.
Despite this, UBS’s house view over the past year with regards to asset allocation has been successful. "We were early to call US equities and get into high yield. We got currency plays right and exited some trades at the right time," says Zeltner. "We didn’t do everything right, but many of the big calls we made had positive results for clients." As a result, more than 90% of UBS’s client portfolios had a positive performance last year.