The UBS Global Financial Intermediaries (FIM) team in Jersey has been providing a dedicated offering to external asset and fund managers for more than 10 years. We talked to Helen Ollivro, Executive Director and Head of UBS FIM for Jersey and the UK, to find out more about her and the FIM team
Can you tell us a bit about how you came to your current role?
I have spent the whole of my working career in the finance sector. I started within life assurance on the investment side and held a number of client-facing leadership roles.
During this time, I also studied with the CISI and gained industry qualifications. An opportunity to join a private bank arose in 2004, so I moved into asset management, later becoming the Investment Dealer for the location.
In 2007, I moved to Jersey and was offered a role as a Client Advisor on the newly established UBS Financial Intermediaries team.
I have performed various roles during this time and was appointed the Desk Head of the Jersey team in 2016. My role expanded earlier this year, when I also took on responsibility for the FIM UK team.
So, who are your clients?
We predominantly work with external asset managers (EAM)/discretionary fund managers (DFM), fund administrators and their managers.
For EAMs and DFMs, we offer a wide range of products and services designed with the unique needs of financial intermediaries and their clients in mind.
With respect to fund administrators, we have always provided a platform for our in-house private market vehicles.
We have now made the decision to expand this area and I am pleased to announce that we are in the process of onboarding our first Jersey Private Fund.
Tell us about the main priorities of your team.
Obviously, our main priority is our clients. We are service-driven and completely share our financial intermediaries’ passion to deliver the best results for their clients.
For example, one way we help support our financial intermediaries is by performing their middle and back-office roles, enabling them to focus on what’s important to them, their clients.
We understand that wealth management is about long-term relationships, built on reliability and trust. We bring the same principles to our relationships with our financial intermediaries, drawing on UBS’s comprehensive offering and global capabilities.
Have your priorities changed much over the years?
Yes, as markets have changed, we have had to adapt, but our main core activities have remained the same. We recognise that being able to interact electronically is key to our FIM relationships and sustainable growth for both our intermediaries and UBS, so this is always an area we are looking to improve and develop.
Do you have any new activities coming up for the FIM teams?
We are planning to roll out our Credit Roadshow in Q3 2020, to give our EAMs/DFMs an overview of what UBS can offer with regards to securitised lending (Lombard), as well as UK residential and commercial mortgages.
You are on the Advisory Board for the Diversity Network in Jersey – can you tell us more about that?
This is really important to me. The Diversity Network was founded by two local businesswomen in Jersey to enable change in the way we work to make the business community a more accessible, fair and inclusive place regardless of who you are and where you come from.
My role on the Advisory Board is to collaborate with the founders (Sam Duffy and Kate Wright) and the other Advisory Board members. We share thoughts and best practice to help shape the direction and focus of the Network.
Sam and Kate are an inspiration and truly committed to helping improve diversity and innovation practices in Jersey.
It’s fantastic to be able to work for UBS, as it also takes a broad approach to diversity. UBS focuses on gender, ethnicity, LGBTQ+, disability and mental health, among other aspects, with inclusive leadership and increased representation of diverse-heritage employees.
What would you say are your main challenges?
As with probably every business across the globe, the Covid-19 pandemic has been our biggest challenge.
However, I am immensely proud of how the FIM teams in the UK and Jersey, as well as the wider UBS workforce, were able to maintain business as usual under such difficult circumstances.
I am fortunate to work with very talented individuals, who are always willing to go the extra mile for our clients.
Have you had any successes you want to talk about?
I think getting the green light to enable FIM Jersey to provide services for the Jersey Private Fund will be a differentiator for our business. The success of these funds is well documented and evidenced by the statistics. More than 300 funds have been formed since their launch in 2017.
FIND OUT MORE
For more information about the services offered by UBS FIM Jersey, please contact:
Helen Ollivro, Head of Financial Intermediaries UK & Jersey, UBS AG
1, IFC
St Helier, Jersey
JE2 3BX
T: 01534 701031
E: helen.ollivro@ubs.com
UBS AG, Jersey Branch is authorised and regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission for the conduct of banking, funds and investment business. UBS AG, Jersey Branch is a branch of UBS AG (a public company limited by shares, incorporated in Switzerland whose registered offices are at Aeschenvorstadt 1, CH-4051, Basel and Bahnhofstrasse 45, CH-8001 Zurich) (“UBS”) with its principal place of business at 1 IFC Jersey, St Helier, Jersey JE2 3BX. Terms and Conditions are available upon request.
© UBS 2020. All rights reserved.
• This sponsored article was first published in Businesslife's City Edition 2020