UBS to beef up asset biz in India

Even after UBS Global Asset Management's $220 million deal to acquire Standard Chartered Bank's mutual fund management business in India fell through, the Swiss financial services giant exuded confidence that it will beef up its asset management business operations in the sub-continent.

"We are weighing both 'organic' and 'inorganic' options, including green field options," an UBS executive said, arguing that "India continues to be an important destination for UBS' asset management activities".

The UBS official admitted that the StanChart deal, which was signed in January this year, could not materialize because the Reserve Bank of India did not give clearance to it.

However, he was silent on why the RBI did so.

Being the main arm of the troubled UBS, which is currently being investigated by Swiss regulators following a further write-down of $10 billion arising from the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, analysts said UBS is reviewing several plans all over again.

"The decision not to proceed with the StanChart deal is totally unrelated to the write-downs from the sub-prime mortgage crisis," Mark Padhay of UBS Global Asset Management told Business Standard.