Union Bank ties up with Swiss asset manager

Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines has teamed up with Swiss private bank Lombard Odier, a leading global wealth and asset manager, to offer a new global fund to upscale clients.

“The agreement will see the launch of a global and diversified multi-asset fund with a risk profile matching Union Bank’s specific needs for its high-networth and ultra high-networth clients,” UnionBank senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary Joselito Banaag told the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Wednesday.

Lombard Odier, which was founded in 1796, had $224 billion of client assets as of end-2015.

The deal is in line with UnionBank’s plan to offer a more customized wealth management.

Union Bank intends to be more proactive in offering a kind of wealth management that is focused more on risk and on creating more certainty for returns—or in managing the volatility of the asset classes. This is based on its assessment that many of its clients now are looking for not simply yield but for protection of their assets across generations.

The bank had said it would veer aware from the usual wealth management practice in the Philippines as well as in many parts of Asia that tended to push products and chase yields.

Instead of selling or pushing products down the throat of valued clients, the bank seeks to assess their risk appetite and match what they need based on their risk appetite.

Union Bank, which heavily profited from foreign exchange and securities trading in the past, has refocused its business to rely more on businesses that are less vulnerable to financial market volatility. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla