UBS and FinChat partner to provide secured social chat communication to clients and advisors in Asia Pacific

SINGAPORE, 13 June 2017 – UBS and FinChat, a Singapore based technology company, today announced that they have entered into an agreement to develop a solution in EVOLVE – UBS Centre for Design Thinking and Innovation that allows secured social chat communication between its clients and advisors.

"This is a first and it is an essential step for the industry," said Dirk Klee, Chief Operating Officer & Head of Digital Strategy, UBS Wealth Management. "It is important for us to break any impasse between the ever-increasing usage of social media platforms and rise in compliance monitoring standards. In the future we look to engage with thousands of clients through their favourite social messaging platforms."

Around 2.8 billion people are active social media users worldwide, according to data from We Are Social in their Digital 2017 report. Around a billion people use WhatsApp monthly, while WeChat is used by nearly 850 million people, the data showed. These are important channels for our clients and the preferred channel for millennials.

"This partnership is something that couldn't have been possible just a few years ago." said Bill Eng, Co-founder and CEO of FinChat Technology." We are well placed to help UBS solve one of its key roadblocks for communications, and I am proud we worked so well together to get this off the ground in just a matter of weeks."

"Our clients have told us repeatedly they want to use chat apps for communication with their client advisors and to receive product and investment recommendations," said Ketan Samani, Chief Digital Officer, UBS Wealth Management Asia Pacific.

"This is a very real-world solution, and shows that we are serious in meeting client needs and providing a client experience like no other wealth manager. We want to be where clients are, both online and offline, and this is why this partnership with FinChat is important."

Regulators across the globe are demanding that financial institutions remain compliant on data retention and archival, which made client-client advisor communications via social communications channels impossible in the past.

UBS Group AG

UBS provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as private clients in Switzerland. The operational structure of the Group is comprised of our Corporate Center and five business divisions: Wealth Management, Wealth Management Americas, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management and the Investment Bank. UBS's strategy builds on the strengths of all of its businesses and focuses its efforts on areas in which it excels, while seeking to capitalize on the compelling growth prospects in the businesses and regions in which it operates, in order to generate attractive and sustainable returns for its shareholders. All of its businesses are capital-efficient and benefit from a strong competitive position in their targeted markets.

UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in 54 countries, with about 34% of its employees working in the Americas, 35% in Switzerland, 18% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 13% in Asia Pacific. UBS Group AG employs approximately 60,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

About FinChat Technology

They offer the full spectrum of Compliance monitoring, analytics & archiving tools for messaging in regulated industries, for instance financial institutions. This allows employees to engage clients through clients' favorite messaging apps ( WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE, FB Messenger, Skype and more ) while staying audit-compliant, secure and mobile.

FinChat offers best-in-class web-based and mobile-based compliance tools where business chats are captured and monitored while private chats remain private.