UBS’s Harding-Jones Moves to Hong Kong to Run M&A Asia-Pacific

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) — UBS Group AG said London-based investment banker Alison Harding-Jones will move to Hong Kong in January to run its mergers advisory unit in the Asia-Pacific region.

Harding-Jones, who has worked with the firm for more than 20 years, was head of the European, Middle East and Africa M&A business throughout 2012 and was responsible for central and eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa advisory, according to a memo sent to employees on Dec. 9 and confirmed by the Swiss bank. She will report to Matthew Hanning, head of corporate client solutions in the Asia-Pacific region, in the new role.

“Maintaining a leading Asia-Pacific position and increasing market share in Japan and Asia are key priorities,” Hanning said in the memo. Her arrival “will serve to increase the depth of the senior bench available to our clients.”

Revenue at the Swiss bank’s corporate client-solutions unit, which includes advisory, underwriting and financing businesses, jumped 46 percent to 738 million francs ($765 million) in the third quarter. Equities trading posted a 2.3 percent increase in revenue to 884 million francs, while the foreign-exchange, rates and credit unit saw a 6.8 percent revenue decline to 315 million francs.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ambereen Choudhury in London at [e-mail] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simone Meier at [e-mail] Steve Bailey, Jon Menon