New rules force UBS to divert US$5 billion Asian deposits
(4 September 2015 - Hong Kong) UBS Group has moved over US$5 billion (A$7.1 billion) of Asia-Pacific deposits into other cash investments as the incoming Basel III rules raise the cost of holding them, Bloomberg reports.
According to Alessandro Caironi, head of capital market and banking product sales for Asia Pacific, UBS has helped some clients transfer their cash into assets held in structures including special purpose vehicle. Clients will receive short-term structured notes and similar securities in return.
"Clients investing cash in these alternative products done via SPVs get a higher coupon than they normally would," Caironi said.
"UBS benefits from being able to keep the accounts of these deposit holders, for relationship purposes and potential transactions in future."
The Asia-Pacific deposits that UBS has moved into alternative structures are mainly in US dollars and Japanese yen, and the money manager plans to offer other Asian currencies later this month, he said.
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