UBS biggest wealth firm, study finds

UBS AG, which is shrinking its investment banking business, overtook Bank of America Corp. to top a ranking of the world's biggest wealth managers compiled by Scorpio Partnership. UBS boosted managed assets by 9.7% to $1.7 trillion last year as it benefited from clients invested in emerging markets, outstripping a 5.9% gain to $1.67 trillion at BofA, the research company said in a study of more than 200 firms. Global wealth management assets rose 8.7% to $18.5 trillion last year, helped by a 24% increase in net new money and market gains, according to Scorpio. The S&P 500 advanced 13% last year, while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index climbed 15%. “Private banks have bounced back from their nadir of 2011,” Scorpio said in a statement. Wells Fargo & Co., another of the eight U.S.-based private banks on the list, was third, followed by Morgan Stanley. The top 20 firms are outpacing the rest of the industry, as two-fifths of clients express a preference for a single wealth manager, compared with 14% who opt to use more than one bank, according to Scorpio. The top 20 managers increased assets almost 11% and oversee 76% of the total funds held by private banks, Scorpio said.

EARNINGS GROWTH

Still, the pace of earnings growth at wealth managers slowed last year amid rising operating costs, according to Scorpio. Profit climbed by an average of 9.8% last year, compared with 12.3% in 2011. Spain's Banco Santander SA returned to the top-20 ranking for the first time since 2010 after reporting a 66% increase in assets under management as a result of its buyout of minority shareholders in Banco Español de Credito SA, a consumer bank that includes the Banif private-banking arm. Julius Baer Group Ltd. may move up this year after the Swiss bank agreed to buy BofA's wealth management business outside the United States. That could boost managed assets by up to 72 billion Swiss francs ($74 billion), Julius Baer has said. Credit Suisse in March agreed to buy Morgan Stanley's wealth management operations in Dubai, Italy and the United Kingdom, which manage about $13 billion in assets. HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe's biggest bank by market capitalization, is considering selling parts of its Swiss private bank, three peoplewith knowledge of the situation said. More than half the wealth assets are booked in emerging markets, Scorpio said after analyzing data from various firms with a combined $1.1 trillion under management. “The proportion has been increasing steadily as firms boost hiring in faster-growing emerging markets,” said Sebastian Dovey, head of Scorpio.