UBS said to shut Australian wealth management unit after review

UBS Group AG is shutting its Australian wealth management unit, with senior employees offering to serve clients through a new company, people with knowledge of the matter said. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

MAY 25, 20154:49 PM

[ZURICH] UBS Group AG is shutting its Australian wealth management unit, with senior employees offering to serve clients through a new company, people with knowledge of the matter said.

UBS Wealth Management Australia head Mike Chisholm and senior client advisers are forming Crestone Wealth Management, the people said. The advisers moving to Crestone account for about 80 per cent of the unit's revenue, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the matter is private.

The Swiss bank's exit is the result of a more than month- long review. Juerg Zeltner, the president of UBS wealth management, said last month that an evaluation was underway.

UBS, which reported a 54 per cent jump in pretax profit at its wealth-management unit in the first quarter, may announce the exit as soon as Monday, one of the people said. A spokesman for UBS in Zurich declined to comment.

The Australian reported Crestone details earlier today, citing unidentified people.

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