UBS Adding Bodies in China

It's just about unanimous: every big bank on the planet believes that China (and a few other spots in Asia) is where the deal flow will be and where the regulations will not be over the next few years.

Yesterday, adding its endorsement of the Eastern markets, UBS revealed "particularly aggressive plans in China this year," including the hiring of investment bankers and "about 90 equities salesmen."

The plans were released by UBS CEO Oswald Grübel, who spoke at UBS's China conference in Shanghai, saying that "he expects 2011 results to reflect UBS's drive to integrate its investment-banking, wealth-management and asset-management divisions, as well as its cost-cutting." According to Grübel, "The results should be particularly dramatic in Asia, given the high percentage of privately held companies there whose owners call upon both UBS's investment-banking and wealth-management services."

The drama in the Far East will also no doubt be higher than in the West because "regulators in Asia, where economies were less affected by the global financial crisis, have taken a softer stance."

(WSJ)

(Related: J.P. Morgan Grows in China, Goldman Sachs to Hit the BRICS)