Union Bancaire Privée Recruits Experienced MENA Equities Team

GENEVA, January 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) announced today that it has recruited a highly-rated Middle East & North Africa (MENA) equities investment team to provide its clients with on-the-ground access to the return potential of the region's stock markets.

Lead portfolio manager Habib Oueijan, who has been running MENA equity portfolios for the past 15 years, heads a five-strong team that includes another senior portfolio manager, Mahmoud El Safty, and three experienced research analysts. The team joins from a Dubai-based asset management firm, where they built an eight-year track record. The team will continue to manage its flagship MENA equity fund, which was recently transferred to UBP.

UBP is a forceful exponent of the benefits for its clients of investing in emerging markets, and has been bolstering its capabilities in this area. In 2010 alone the company took on 11 emerging market investment professionals and launched European Emerging, Turkish and Russian equity funds, an innovative emerging market corporate bond fund and a fund of emerging market hedge funds.

Richard Wohanka, CEO of Asset Management at UBP, highlighted the benefits of this recruitment for UBP's clients. "The MENA equity markets are among the most under-researched and under-owned by global investors, despite what we believe to be their excellent return potential and strong diversification benefits. Habib and his team have demonstrated how capable they are in this area through their proven eight-year track record, and we are delighted to have them on board."

About Union Bancaire Privée

Union Bancaire Privée, UBP SA (UBP) is based in Geneva and is one of Switzerland's leading private banks. Active in the field of asset management for both private and institutional clients and with a very solid balance sheet, the Bank had some CHF 65 billion (USD 61 billion) in assets under management as at 31 December 2010. UBP employs some 1,200 people in over 20 locations worldwide and provides a complete range of innovative investment products and services, both in traditional and alternative asset management, with the aim of achieving a high performance and protecting clients' capital. http://www.ubpbank.com

Contact:

Jérôme Koechlin - Head of Corporate Communications | +41-58-819-26-40 | jko@ubp.ch

Emmy Labovitch - Head of Marketing UBP Asset Management | +41-58-819-23-76 | lae@ubp.ch