Equity derivatives house - UBS

The past 12 months have been unfeasibly tough for UBS, as they have for nearly all financial institutions in Asia. But the bank has distinguished itself during this period by constantly striving to improve client service, no matter how hostile the operating conditions, offering consistently competitive pricing and seizing new opportunities.

One of those has been increased interest in the exchange-traded fund (ETF) business on the back of concerns about counterparty risk. "There was a decline in structured products as they are generally issued as notes - many clients decided to take a break, which created a new opportunity in the ETF space," says Christopher Lee, managing director for equity risk management products and head of cross-divisional intermediary business at the bank.

UBS has acted as a derivatives provider both to ETF