The world's largest wealth manager has planted a flag for growing talent in Asia as it announced the first graduates of a programme designed to meet demand.

UBS has unveiled the first graduates of its Master In Wealth Management Program Asia-Pacific. They completed a two-year course established at a time when there remain calls for private banks to do more to grow in-house talent.

Yesterday, and exclusively reported by this publication, some 16 graduates were officially awarded their dual degrees - a Master of Science in Wealth Management from the Simon Business School at University of Rochester (US) and a Master of Advanced Studies in Finance from the University of Bern (Switzerland).

Other wealth management houses will hopefully follow UBS's lead in creating similar programmes and they are important to build confidence in the sector, Jurg Zeltner, president of UBS Wealth Management, told this news service at the unveiling of the results in Singapore this week.

A number of firms support post-graduate training focused on wealth management around the world and this publication has collected a roundup of such courses here. UBS's Swiss rival, Credit Suisse, has courses such as its Future Leader Program in the wealth and private banking area. BNP Paribas runs courses for post-graduates in wealth management in Asia. There are a small, but growing, number of business schools, such as Wharton in the US, that offer MBA courses with a focus on wealth management. Industry figures in the past have told this news service that more needs to be done in this area and it has considerable growth potential. There are an estimated 7 million millionaires in the Asia region. On the assumption that a banker can on average handle 35 clients, that would translate into a need to have 200,000 private bankers. But at the moment there are only around 10,000 such people (see this article here).

Claudio Loderer, delegate of the foundation board of Rochetster-Bern, said of the programme: "Client advisors need the tools and the ability to confront themselves with rapidly changing market conditions, institutional environments, and client needs. I believe this programme is a successful answer to all of that."

A total of 66 were included in the current programme.

"Asia-Pacific continues to be an area of growth for UBS's wealth management business. We will increasingly need high-quality managers with an intimate understanding of the region. I congratulate the graduates of the Master in Wealth Management programme and am confident that they will draw on what they have learned to enhance client service," Edmund Koh, head of UBS Wealth Management Asia-Pacific, said.

Wee Choon Hock, a graduate of the programme, said: "The two-year programme provided me with access to academic thought leaders, mentorship from the senior leadership team and deepened my understanding of challenges facing the global wealth management industry."