Banking giant UBS is planning a market offensive among wealthy business people in Hong Kong. The bank is looking for additional client advisors for its new offices in Kowloon. Chosen to lead the new team, a private banking heavyweight who has a long history with UBS.

The plans were made public in June: UBS set its sights on capturing a large share of the Chinese wealth management market, as reported by finews.ch (article in German).

To achieve this in Hong Kong they are moving closer to their target group on the mainland by opening offices in Kowloon. UBS has rented 2,100 sq. meters of office space at One Peking Road, as confirmed Tuesday by the sector portal ‘Asian Private Banker’.

A new head of office has also been found: Adeline Chien (pictured). The experienced private banker is recruiting client advisors and responsible for the different initiatives of UBS. Chien is a big name in the Hong Kong wealth management scene.

On the move

After a few years moving around, Chien has returned to UBS from Barclays as team leader. Previously, she worked for UBS from 1994 to 2004. After a detour to Goldman Sachs, she was Hong Kong managing director for the Swiss bank. Afterwards she joined EFG and later Barclays.

Now she takes up her third run at UBS. The bank is planning big things. As Jean-Claude Humair, regional market manager in Hong Kong, told ‘Asian Private Banker’, the bank wants to employ ten more client advisors than originally planned.

40 new client advisors

In June the goal was 50 private bankers. Now it is likely to be 60 to 65, according to Humair. Forty will be new hires, with 20 to 25 coming from the Hong Kong office.

With this recruitment drive the bank will increase its headcount of Asian client advisors to 1,200. In the second quarter of this year the number of client advisors at UBS fell by six per cent, according to ‘Asian Private Banker’.

New client advisors are being sought with strong connections to businesses in Kowloon and China, Chien says. She is also responsible for the planned pensions program. UBS wants to reach out to wealthy business people who are already over 50 to advise them in sorting out succession matters.

Chien also wants to run networking events for business leaders in the Kowloon office.