Swiss bank UBS has become the largest global wealth manager with assets under management of $1,700 billion at the end of last year, up by nearly 10%, surpassing the U.S. group Bank of America. UBS has gained ground due to the investments made by customers in emerging markets, according to a report by British research company Scorpio Partnership, which has analyzed more than 200 asset management companies. At Bank of America, the value of assets under management rose last year by 5.9% to $1.670 billion dollars. U.S. banks Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo are next on the list.
Wealth management industry worldwide grew by 8.7% in 2012 to $18.500 billion dollars, due to the strong increase in new funds attracted and positive developments on the financial markets. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of the New York Stock Exchange rose last year by 13%, while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose by 15%.
Scorpio Partnership report pointed out that the strong growth represents a return to private banking industry, which failed after the financial crisis to draw convincing volume of assets from customers.
The 20 largest wealth management institutions grew their assets by 11% and manage 76% of total funds deposited in the industry. Despite a growing business, profit growth of the companies slowed down due to higher operating costs. Profit rose on average by 9.8% last year compared to an advance of 12.3% in 2011.
Banco Santander, the biggest Spanish bank, returned to the top 20 for the first time since 2010 after having increased by 66% assets under its management due to the acquisition of shares in Banco Español de Credito/Banif. Rankings for 2013 may significantly change due to mergers and acquisitions in the industry. Swiss group Julius Baer will take over the wealth management activities of Bank of America outside the U.S..
Credit Suisse, the second-largest Swiss bank, signed in March an agreement to take over wealth management operations of Morgan Stanley in the UK, Italy and Dubai. HSBC, the largest European bank by market capitalization, plans to sell part of private banking activities in Switzerland, according to sources close to the situation.
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