00:00I just want to pick up on a point that Ava was making there about the really good consumer confidence numbers we just had, highest in November.
00:07It really echoes what we heard from some of the three of the four big banks last week, Westpac, National Australia, ANZ.
00:13They're all sounding variously upbeat about credit quality, business confidence, the consumer sector as well.
00:19So is that the way you would characterize the Australian economy at the moment? How do you see things?
00:24From an economic perspective, yes, it's been a bit mixed through the course of the year, but we've actually seen, if anything, a little bit of a pickup in some of the sentiment and forward projections in recent times.
00:40And that's playing into a lot of the dealmaking activity that we are starting to see.
00:46You've got a situation where the interest rates have been broadly stable, somewhere between that 4% and 4.5% on a 10-year basis over the first part of the last year or so.
00:58And frankly, credit spreads have come in a little bit, which means that the debt financing is available for people.
01:05So we're seeing, on the one hand, if we're in the funding side of things, debt is actually readily available and reasonably priced.
01:12On the other side, you've got the equity capital markets, which are trading a few points above their historical averages.
01:19So people's share prices are likewise in reasonably good positions.
01:23And you've seen the indices generally tick up through the course of the year.
01:28So that's all giving people a reasonably high degree of confidence.
01:33And the economic situation, which you've mentioned, is relatively stable.
01:39You know, you've got unemployment, which is still in the low fours.
01:43You've got the consumer starting to spend a little bit again.
01:46And because people have got that higher wealth feeling, they're actually going out and driving the economy in that regard.
01:54One of the other things that we've seen, though, is sticky inflation also.
01:57And we got some commentary from the RBA suggesting, well, perhaps the easing cycle is done.
02:03Perhaps the next move could be up.
02:04So with that in mind, how do you see that impacting dealmaking in the future, in the coming months?
02:10Look, I think that it's as long as it's not sharp moves, dealmaking will be just fine.
02:17Dealmaking tends to get clogged up a little bit when things are either rapidly increasing or rapidly decreasing.
02:24And people are starting to wait to see what happens and see how things play out.
02:28There's been a few moves from the RBA downwards, obviously, but it hasn't been dramatic.
02:36And so we've seen a period of relative stability.
02:38And probably what's more important for dealmaking is that long-term rate hasn't moved very much.
02:43And so the interest rate environment, whether or not it's one move down, flat, the next move even potentially being up a little bit,
02:51as long as it's not dramatic moves, it'll be absolutely fine for dealmaking.
02:54Well, you recently took over that co-head Australia-New Zealand role not that long ago.
03:00So when you're looking ahead to the coming year, what are your priorities?
03:04Look, I think our priorities are always very similar in terms of really staying close to the client base,
03:09making sure we're sitting there as they're in that trusted advisor position,
03:13as well as making sure that we're providing all of the other products and services that are important to the client base here.
03:19So we obviously have a very significant investment bank that sits there.
03:25Post the combination with Credit Suisse, we now have a very impressive wealth management business.
03:32And there's real synergy between the two of those, which we'll be looking to take advantage of
03:36and make sure we're bringing the best of both of those worlds to the client base.
03:41Let's talk a little bit about wealth management as well,
03:43because that started to gain the attention of local and global investors here in Australia.
03:47So can you tell us a little bit about your targets in that area?
03:51Look, we've got a range of target clients across that business,
03:57anything from your mid-level wealthy up to obviously your ultra-high net worth individuals.
04:04And again, as part of the combination with Credit Suisse,
04:07we now have an enormous suite of products that exist globally,
04:11and a great group of people that we've got here locally that can service the local client base.
04:16So it's really making sure that the local client base is having all of the best of UBS being brought to them,
04:23whether or not that's global product, local product,
04:26or indeed some of the services that come across the investment bank.
04:29One of the themes that I see just walking around the floor here at the UBS conference is AI.
04:35And just over there, I saw somebody losing a game of chess to a robot.
04:38So can you tell us how you're working AI into your business, where you see this heading?
04:42Yeah, look, it's going to have a profound impact on us as a professional services firm.
04:47You know, there's huge benefits that we see in relation to some of the processes that we undertake,
04:53some of the back office functionality, etc.
04:55And we're already developing some agentic solutions in relation to that.
04:59And so there'll be quite significant productivity and efficiency type benefits.
05:02But there's also going to be insights that we can glean by better utilising our existing data
05:09and coming up with new ideas and new product and offerings that we can put to the client base.
05:16So ensuring that we have the entire business utilising the artificial intelligence opportunities that we have,
05:25changing the way that we do business,
05:27because, again, for many professional services businesses, it hasn't changed a lot in two decades,
05:33and it's about to quite substantially.
05:35And so we really try to make sure that we're at the forefront of driving that within our own business
05:39and then also on the client side, making sure that we are providing the sort of other products and services that we provide
05:47because there's a huge amount of capital to be raised to facilitate this development.
05:53And that's a core part of what we want to be doing as well.
05:55All right. Great. Thanks so much for joining us.
05:57That is Greg Pierce. He's co-head of Global Banking at UBS.
06:01Sherry.
06:02And Paul Allen with those conversations joining us from Sydney.
06:05We do have more on Australia ahead as well every Tuesday, 11.40 a.m.
06:09If you're watching in Sydney, 8.40 a.m. in Hong Kong.
06:12And you can tune in to the Bloomberg Australia podcast,
06:15which delves into the biggest stories shaping the country's role in global business.
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