UBS escalates its pursuit of rich Americans with staff promotions

UBS Group promoted 96 employees to the level of managing director in the Americas as it seeks to gain more rich clients and expand in the region. The Swiss bank elevated 60 financial advisers and 36 Americas staff, according to Tom Naratil, co-president of UBS Global Wealth Management and president of UBS in the Americas, who posted lists of the promoted employees on LinkedIn. UBS plans to expand by targeting billionaires, managing the complex fortunes of large families and boosting lending. The bank is the world's biggest wealth manager, with $2.26 trillion of assets under management, but its American wealth operations are smaller than rivals Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley. The division has an "extremely ambitious" plan to boost pretax profits by 10% to 15% over the next three years, Mr. Naratil said in a December interview. "We continue to strategically invest in the Americas as a key area of growth" Mr. Naratil said in a statement. "Our advisers are the most productive in the industry and these promotions are in recognition of their accomplishments." In October, UBS Group CEO Sergio Ermotti took a bolder set of financial targets back to investors, pledging to drive wealth management profit higher and place the U.S at the center of a growth strategy that also includes boosting lending to high- and ultra-high-net-worth clients. (More: UBS Wealth embraces exotic strategies to battle market headwinds)​