About a decade ago, a wealth management firm, Crestone, was spun out of UBS in Australia, it is now owned by LGT. UBS is, however, continuing to target Australian wealth via centres such as Singapore.

A former HSBC banker who serves Australia-linked clients has joined UBS as a client advisor for its Australia international business, based in Singapore.

Mansie Virmani stated that she'd taken up the post on her Linkedin page. Prior to UBS, she worked for six years and five months at HSBC, most recently as a director, covering the Australia market, and prior to this, she was based in Sydney with HSBC. 

Earlier, Virmani worked as an associate for three years at Geneva-headquartered Union Bancaire Privée, based in Singapore, and prior to this, at Citigroup.

The UBS business in Australia has been in a state of flux. In 2021, Liechtenstein-headquartered private banking group, LGT, entered a conditional agreement to acquire all of Crestone Wealth Management, the Australian firm serving high net worth clients that was spun out of UBS via a management buyout a few years before. As noted by Bloomberg in March this year, UBS plans to grow the more than $30 billion in high net worth money it manages in Australia. It is eying the country’s growth of HNW people; the wealth of this group rose 7.9 per cent in 2023, second only to India among Asia-Pacific countries and above the global average of 4.7 per cent, it said, citing Capgemini figures. Australian clients are also served via an offshore desk in Singapore.