Swiss multinational UBS and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust are planning to establish a joint venture by 2021, according to media reports. The companies’ plan to establish a joint venture is a part of their goal to boost wealth management opportunities among Japan’s wealthy population.
The deal would encourage both companies to increase the ‘wallet share’ with existing clients and attract new ones. Under the terms of the agreement, UBS will offer ‘securities sales, trading, and research’ to Sumitomo Mitsui’s clients, while the latter will ‘sell real-estate and trust services’ to the wealth manager’s clients, Bloomberg said.
UBS Japan Country Head Zenji Nakamura said in the note, “We will establish a joint venture, 51 percent owned by UBS, that will offer a menu of products and services that is more comprehensive than we or SuMi Trust is currently able to deliver on our own.”
“This new tie-up will create Japan’s first-ever ‘one-stop shop’ for all the wealth management needs of high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals.”
UBS is the largest wealth manager in Asia. with $405 billion in assets under management.
For a long time, foreign asset managers have targeted Japan, the world’s third largest economy because of high savings rate and wealthy individuals.