UBS tips equity pickup, mulls product implications

Swiss bank UBS expects to develop and distribute more equity-related products for its wealthy clients next year despite the fact they are still risk averse. The firm sees a rotation from Asian bonds into equities, on valuation grounds. Yonghao Pu, Asia-Pacific chief investment officer for UBS Wealth Management, points to an expected uptick in demand. He notes that the MSCI Asia ex-Japan Index is currently trading at 11.4 times 12-month forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, comp…