UBS tops global wealth manager ranking, Bank of America second

UBS  won back the place of worlds largest private bank due to a raise in new client funds which surged last year. The inflow of fresh clients indicates a recovery in investors confidence in economy. The Bank of America came second, from previously leading the ranking. The Swiss bank edged out its U.S. competitor with 9.7% growth in overall assets to $1.705 trillion, compared to 5.9% at Bank of America. UBS noted that company benefited mainly from clients invested in emerging markets.

“The sharp uptick is a turnaround for the private banking industry, which has struggled to attract convincing levels of new client assets since the financial crisis,” Scorpio said in an e-mailed statement cited by Bloomberg. “Private banks have bounced back from their nadir of 2011.” the consultant firm added.

According to Scorpio, Wells Fargo & Co., the U.S. based private banks, was third, followed by Morgan Stanley. The top 20 wealth managers grew assets under management almost 11% and oversee 76% of the total client funds deposited with private banks.

In general, private banks won 24% more net new money, which represents a sharp increase as financial providers to the wealthy were struggling to win back peoples confidence years after the financial crisis. However, the banks didnt manage to translate the inflows of money to bigger profits, which adeed only 5.3%, according to Scorpio. This means private banks have a long way to go cutting costs to lift profitability.

Spain’s Banco Santander SA recovered to the top 20 ranking, first time since 2010 after reporting a 66% increase in assets under management from buying out minority shareholders in Banco Espanol de Credito SA, a consumer bank.

Tuesday turned profitable for financial sector as Bank of America added 1.88%, Morgan Stanley jumped by 2.25% while Wells Fargo & Co. sank by 0.3%. UBS slightly raised with 0.12% sustaining a 9.02% year to date increase.