Best Leader in Private Banking - Kathryn Shih, CEO of UBS Wealth Management Asia Pacific

For the judges this is a very important component of the awards. As in selecting this individual there are a number of key factors that we took into account in considering the right individual to be awarded the ‘Best Leader in Private Banking’. Having spent the last 12 years interviewing leaders in the private banking space all over the world I led the other judges in considering the following key factors in our leadership assessment.

• Charisma - Instills faith, respect, and trust and conveys a strong sense of mission

• Flexibility - Functions effectively in changing environments and is able to change course when the situation warrants it

• Courage - Willing to stand up for ideas even if they are unpopular and will do what is right for the company and for employees

• Dependability - Follows through and keeps commitments

• Integrity - Does what is morally and ethically right

• Judgment - Reaches sound and objective evaluations of alternative courses of action through logic, analysis, and comparison

Needless to say that the list of contenders was strong but what was key for the judges was that we wanted to see that the chosen individual had consistently and unwaveringly upheld these core leadership principles over many years.

The individual we have chosen has been working for this bank for over 20 years and has held leading positions over this time. She started as a client adviser and rose to head of private banking operations in Hong Kong, after which she was a regional market manager of Greater China followed by North Asia, and now her current role as APAC head and CEO. We are therefore pleased to award Kathryn Shih the award of Best leader in Private Banking.