Developed in-house, UBS' new gaming app is targeted at building financial literacy among children.
Swiss-bank UBS, which employs almost 4,000 people in India, has used its technology capabilities to develop a gaming app for leading Indian charity Pratham. The app aims to encourage financial literacy amongst children and is called «Meri Dukaan,» which translates literally into «My Store.» The android-based app introduces children and youth to financial concepts in an informal manner.
Designed to simulate the experience of running a grocery store, the app teaches financial and inventory management, basic banking, insurance, and more. The UBS Optimius Foundation, the part of the bank that helps clients with their philanthropic initiatives, is also involved with the initiative.
UBS In India
Although the Swiss-bank has had an investment banking presence in India for almost 25 years, its client-facing platform (comprising equities, research and M&A) in the country is negligible compared to its insourcing operations. With three development centers across the country, India is now the bank's most important base for its global back-office operations.
In a recent interview with local media, Sabine Keller-Busse, chief operating officer of UBS in India, admitted that «the talent base here [in India] is unmatched.»
A Waiting Game
For the business side, India has not delivered. Harald Egger, India country head at UBS, said in the same interview that, «from a strategic standpoint, India is a market where you have to be.» However, a high threshold for regulatory approvals that many believe tilts the scales firmly in favour of domestic players and capital controls on offshoring wealth have been difficult for international banks to contend with.
«Foreign investment banks are playing a waiting game in India,» said one senior banker at a domestic bank who attributes their struggles to wafer-thin fees on large public sector offerings and an unreliable pipeline of private sector ones.
UBS surrendered its banking license in 2013 and shuttered its onshore wealth management business. «UBS has found a smart way to keep more than a foot in the door,» he said of its back-office operations and other initiatives in the country, referring to private banks such as Morgan Stanley who upped sticks because the investment period proved longer than expected.
