Q1: How did the business perform in 2025, and what drove its growth over the past year? Looking ahead, what are your main priorities and strategic plans for 2026?

2025 has been a year of solid performance and strategic progress for UBP in Asia, underlining the resilience and adaptability of our business model. We achieved robust net new money growth (5-10% of the asset base), driven primarily by renewed momentum in North Asia markets (managed/booked both in Hong Kong and Singapore), alongside revenue growth across all key business lines. 

• From a client perspective, we saw steadily increasing demand for alternative investments, including private markets and hedge funds. We continue to balance the pursuit of alpha with downside protection through active management and diversified solutions.
• From a geographic perspective, Greater China was a key contributor to NNM growth in 2025 and, more generally, contributed two-thirds of our growth over the past decade. We remain focused on eight geographic markets across Asia, which account for 80% of our business.  
• From a people perspective, we continue to prioritise talent development through on-the-job learning and structured programmes, including our NextGen initiative, which helps colleagues and clients navigate complexity and transformation.  

As we look to 2026, our focus remains on deepening relationships with private clients, financial institutions, and external asset managers. By maintaining our disciplined approach to risk management, adopting innovative managed solutions and working closely across business lines, we are well-positioned to support clients in achieving their investment objectives.

Q2: Looking retrospectively at 2025, which markets did you prioritise for client portfolios to capture opportunities while managing risks and how are clients currently allocating their portfolios.

Financial markets in 2025 have been marked by rapid, at times violent, movements. Renewed trade tensions between the US and China, escalating geopolitical risks in the Middle East, and a series of credit-related disruptions have each triggered abrupt and short-lived market swings. 

The speed and magnitude of these reactions have underscored the growing importance of agility and tactical flexibility in portfolio management. At UBP, we have developed tactical allocation strategies that allow us to reallocate up to 20% of portfolios within minutes, an operational capability that has been a key contributor to our outperformance this year.

Beyond tactical decisions, we maintain a strategic overweight in AI-related sectors. The year 2025 marked a pivotal phase in the development of artificial intelligence. Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2023, AI has evolved from concept to large-scale deployment, driving massive investment in semiconductors, cloud infrastructure, and automation. This technological acceleration has become a major engine of global productivity and GDP growth. Our positioning in the sector has generated strong returns as AI continues to transform corporate strategies and earnings dynamics.

We also hold a long-term conviction in gold, which has delivered robust performance amid persistent geopolitical tensions, sustained central-bank demand, and investors’ search for stability. In an increasingly polarised and uncertain world, gold remains a reliable store of value and a key portfolio diversifier.

Q3: With artificial intelligence increasingly shaping the wealth industry, how has the firm leveraged technology and AI to transform processes and enhance value for both clients and the back office? What key technology upgrades were introduced in 2025, and what are your digital priorities for 2026 and beyond?

At UBP, we harness technology and artificial intelligence to enhance operational efficiency. 

In 2025, we undertook notable initiatives, including a multi-year refresh of our core banking system in Asia and the selective implementation of AI, which now processes 50,000 prompts per month, streamlining operations and enhancing the speed and accuracy of decision-making. 

Within our support and control functions, we have prioritised automating routine tasks to reduce complexity and strengthen risk controls, enabling our teams to focus on higher-value activities. Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, our digital priorities include further advancing our data analytics capabilities to deliver deeper insights for clients and expanding our digital platforms to provide seamless, intuitive user experiences.

Q4: The private banking industry saw a plethora of leadership and structural changes in 2025. Looking into 2026, what are your key priorities for attracting and retaining talent across the front, middle, and back office? Are there plans for new hires in key markets?

To achieve our vision of becoming the world’s leading family-owned private bank, renowned for our expertise-led wealth and asset management solutions and unwavering client focus, we recognise that our people are at the heart of our success.

Our approach to talent acquisition and retention is rooted in our commitment to providing clients with a unique blend of family office-style flexibility and institutional-grade investment expertise. In 2026, we will continue to prioritise attracting and retaining experienced professionals who thrive in an agile, entrepreneurial environment and share our passion for delivering exceptional service to high net worth and ultra high net worth clients.

Our primary target market remains clients who are ready and able to place more than CHF 10 million with UBP. To support this, we are investing not only in our relationship management and investment teams, but also in our support and control professionals, with a particular emphasis on roles that enhance operational efficiency and risk management.