UBS getting past the shortage of wealth management talent in Asia by training them up in a Singaporean national monument.

Command House, Singapore

Since it was built in 1938, Command House, a red roofed colonial-style building perched atop Singapore’s prestigious Kheam Hock Road, has had many different residents.  

The Frank Brewer-designed mansion, formerly known as Flagstaff House, housed sixteen successive general officers commanding Malaya and Singapore, as well as the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Following the withdrawal of the British military from Singapore, the house became the official residence of the speaker of the Singapore Parliament, Dr Yeoh Ghim Seng, between 1971 and 1989. It later served as a venue for state functions by former Singapore president Ong Teng Cheong. The house was gazetted as one of Singapore’s national monuments in November 2009.

And since 2007 the house has had another, very different, function. Five years ago Switzerland’s largest lender UBS was looking for somewhere to locate its wealth management training campus, when it came across the residence, which at the time was being rented out by the government for functions.

“Command House is an architectural gem and a national monument. We were fortunate enough to find it at the right place and time,” said Moira Roberts, head of human resources for Singapore and APAC regional head of the business university, during a tour around the premises. She hushes her voice as next door a room of thirty recent graduates are scribbling answers to a final exam. “UBS has one of the best and largest wealth management training centres in the world, and the fact that we can offer such a unique campus, is definitely a draw for the best and brightest talent in the industry.”

Indeed, in the five years since the bank launched the training camp, applications from graduate trainees alone have soared. For every one candidate, there are 110 applications, said Roberts.

Although UBS declined to comment on what they are paying in rent for the premises, reports say the house has in the past rented for $30,000 per month. Roberts said that the cost of renting the house is equivalent to a few floors in the central business district, one of Singapore’s priciest commercial real estate areas. But the price is worth it, she said, to fulfill UBS’ growth aspirations.

Ambitious plans

Kathryn Shih, the head of Asia-Pacific wealth management at the Zurich-headquartered bank, has already outlined aggressive plans to swell the bank’s Asia wealth management ranks by 1,200 staff within the next three years. To put this in perspective, the bank has around 64,000 staff globally, over 8,000 of which are Asia-based, 2,600 in wealth management. Over 900 client advisors are in Asia, to which the bank wants to add another 300 in the medium term.

Meanwhile dozens of peers have all set out to do the same thing, in response to burgeoning wealth in Asia. Asia-Pacific surpassed North America in 2011 to have 3.37 million millionaires, with investable wealth of US $10.7 trillion, according to a report from RBC and Capgemini. Wealth is still growing at double digits, presenting a lucrative opportunity for private banks.

But logistically, it is not possible for them all to grow at that rate. Industry sources estimate a shortfall of 2,500 private bankers within the next decade, which could lead some banks to have to rethink their strategy or scale back plans.

Shih has admitted there is a shortage of talented bankers to go around and that this could pose a problem for the industry. This is why UBS is “growing its own.”

"The move to open the campus was symptomatic of the dearth of relationship managers in Asia," said Roberts. "It also underlines the enormous growth potential of the region for the firm."

She said the wealth management division has been a net attractor of talent, adding 120 client-facing staff so far this year.

Shih wants to add another 24 relationship managers in coming months in the region. “We are on track to hire the number of people, the number of client advisors and the number of middle and back office people that we had set out to hire,” Shih said in a recent statement. 

“However, in addition simply to growing the number of advisers, we place strong emphasis on building an internal pipeline of talent for future client advisors
and product specialists in order to support future growth. We invest
heavily in building and growing our talent through classroom, virtual
and on the job training in order to service our clients to deliver the
best of what UBS has to offer,” added Roberts.

Looking further afield

A way of widening the talent pool in the region, said Roberts, is the
"UBS Wealth Management Associate Program" which aims to convert
mid-career hires from outside the industry into client advisors.

She added that the bank is also grooming private bankers from non-banking and non-private banking sources, usually from investment banking and retail, but some from completely different industries. Many come from military backgrounds, but they have had a journalist take the course, and last year, a classical pianist.

Launched in 2006, the integrated program includes mentorship from senior management designed to enhance technical knowledge, sales and advisory skills, as well as personal and leadership abilities.

Training ranges through from the youngest graduate to the most senior ranks. For the first half of 2012, 87 per cent of the bank’s APAC wealth management staff have attended on average nearly 14 hours or training and development.

One of the programs is the UBS Wealth Management Diploma, which all wealth management client advisors and desk heads are mandated to pass within their first 18 months at the bank.

So would someone as senior as Shih herself attend the university? Yes, perhaps five or six times a year for thought leadership seminars and workshops, is the answer.

And the bank is looking to replicate the success of the campus elsewhere. Since the launch of the UBS Business University Asia-Pacific, the bank has opened an in-house campus in Hong Kong, last April. Employees are taught financial education, leadership, personal effectiveness, and risk and compliance. Staff come from all the business hubs in the region, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne, Beijing, and Taipei.

There are other training camps globally, primarily in the bank’s homeland of Switzerland. But none are quite so aesthetically impressive as these premises, Roberts said proudly.