Agnès Falco has managed UBS (Monaco) S.A. since January 2017, after a long career devoted to finance : she started in Arthur Andersen and Deloitte, then HSBC, Lloyds Bank, UBP and Crédit Suisse. Secretary General of the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation and Strategic Attractiveness Council for Finance member, Agnès Falco likes "putting people first". Meet her.
You are one of the first women bank managers in Monaco and you chose UBS, why is that?
Because UBS is the global leader in Wealth Management, with 60 000 employees in over fifty countries and five continents. One in every two billionaires worldwide works with UBS. It is also the fastest growing financial group. Wealth Management is at the core of our business, supplemented by our related services: UBS Asset Management offers institutional clients, financial intermediaries and Wealth Management clients diversified investment capabilities and styles in all the main traditional and alternative asset categories.
UBS Investment Bank offers a corporate clientele and institutional clients expert advice, innovative solutions, implementation excellence and full access to the global capital markets, with the support of comprehensive financial analysis services covering the entire range of assets.
Corporate Center services include Group level control functions, such as finance, risk management and legal services. In addition, this provides all logistics and support services, including operations, IT, human resources, communication, physical security and cyber security.
And in Monaco?
The Bank has been in Monaco for 60 years and is one of the leading banks in the Principality. It has won many awards, including the Euromoney Survey Best Practice Banking Services in 2016. It is a local bank, sophisticated and connected to its Group. 80% of our clients are Monaco residents. Using a discreet approach, we offer extremely high quality service and we do not hesitate to create new offerings/bespoke solutions to meet our clients’ complex needs. Our multicultural team of 250 employees is totally customer-dedicated.
For UBS AG, our Group, Monaco is a credible, sophisticated and advanced market.
Are you a united team?
UBS Monaco hinges on a dynamic team, oriented to high level service, comparable to Singapore or London. We are fortunate to have more experienced employees who manage our teams and benefit from international experience in UBS or elsewhere. We are structured around multicultural teams (7 nationalities) with a human approach. I hope we will stay humble and focused on the quality of service we offer our clients, in line with the tradition of Swiss banks. Our goal is clear: to continue to provide the broadest offering in Monaco while developing our "haute couture" approach for every type of client, whether institutional or private, sophisticated or requiring discretionary management.
Our ambition is simple : to maintain our leadership while developing a collaborative approach by proposing original new services.
The challenge for the coming years will be to attract high quality new names to show that the Monegasque financial centre is growing, while meeting regulatory needs extensively.
What do your clients seek?
Monaco is a haven of peace, a safe and secure place with a broad range of premium services.
Its new residents seek stability with a range of services to meet their needs.
UBS clients seek banking skill or discretionary management of their portfolios. They want to benefit from the services of a Group, through their local bank. Our clients are demanding regarding quality advice or implementation.
One example of a differentiating element that our clients appreciate: we have a unique strength, with a CIO (Chief Investment Office) team of 900 analysts who constantly publish investment opinions. This macro-economic research and sector-specific analysis is called UBS HOUSE VIEW and is the basis for our investment strategy. All these "notes" are accessible to our clients on a daily basis.
Do you and "Group" headquarters work as a team?
Absolutely. The teams work systematically around the client. On site, 6 people work in the trading room, 30 in product teams and 50 in the Front team.
For more sophisticated needs, we activate the Group services so that we can provide the optimal approach.
Our catalogue is focused on client sophistication, and we create new bespoke offerings every year. We also have a full offering of financing solutions: for property, private jets etc. We meet a lot of demand from other UBS markets. UBS Monaco is connected to the UBS Group as well as to other entities of the Group worldwide.
Is Monaco a financial centre of the future?
We believe strongly in the development of Monaco. On 8 March, we staged the Family Offices Forum there - the 6th event in Monaco. We are also investing in new premises, with the complete renovation of our building at 2 avenue de Grande-Bretagne. Competition within the financial centre has become more concentrated but is still very strong and makes it possible to multiply strengths. The offerings are varied, with different service qualities. Monaco now covers a broad spectrum of customer needs.
Are you highly involved in Modern Art?
Art and Culture have been the partnership pillars of UBS for many years. So it is logical that we are partners of the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (NMNM) for the fifth year. That goes much further than simple financing, we help the Museum to build a collection, so it can acquire works every year. Similarly, the future building for our Monaco headquarters was chosen by a panel of architects that included Marie-Claude Beaud, Director of the NMNM. Mrs Beaud helped us to choose the Jean Nouvel project, a fine symbol for our new building soon to be built in Monaco. UBS is also fortunate to benefit from a large collection of works, the largest owned by a business, with over
35 000 works. Some are exhibited in our current premises and will be exhibited in our future headquarters.
On the fringe of this partnership and collection, we have exclusive access to the world’s major Contemporary Art exhibitions, such as Art Basel. Also, our most sophisticated clients have access to the UBS Art Competence Center, a team of curators that specialises in Contemporary Art.
Can you say a few words on UBS Optimus Foundation?
It is a donor foundation created by UBS in 1999. We strive to overcome barriers that prevent children from realising their full potential. We want to ensure that children have security, health and education so they are ready for the future. We focus our efforts on the most vulnerable children. We leverage local expertise to identify promising opportunities, solve problems and continually expand our knowledge. We promote and pursue practical innovations based on scientific evidence. We strive to manage the resources entrusted to us effectively. Our goal is to play a part in a world where children can develop their potential to the full.
