UBS Wealth Management Research Releases "The Decade Ahead: The Great Deleveraging”

UBS Wealth Management Research, the research division of UBS Wealth Management Americas (WMA), today released "The Decade Ahead: The Great Deleveraging,” a report identifying deleveraging as the major theme of the next ten years. Authored by Chief Investment Strategist Mike Ryan and Head of Wealth Management Strategies Tony Roth, the report finds that deleveraging will likely unfold in a gradual manner, making diversification investment strategies more important than ever.

The report is part of an ongoing research and white paper client advisory series titled "The Decade Ahead” which was first published in 2010. The series has been developed with the aim of helping clients better prepare for the decade ending in 2020.

The report argues the deleveraging cycle is unique to this decade because it simultaneously cuts across three major sectors of the economy – Households, Financial Sector and Government – and carries with it the following implications:

• Slow and volatile economic growth may drive the Federal Reserve to tolerate higher inflation as a tool in easing debt burdens.
• Further bank restrictions on credit will inhibit economic activity.
• Deleveraging’s exposure of global trade imbalances will promote geopolitical tensions.
• Market returns will be more compressed, indicating equity investors should expect only "normalized” returns until the deleveraging process ends, and government bonds will appear riskier.

"Our team has worked diligently to offer a balanced and well-researched perspective on how the deleveraging process will likely play out through 2020,” said Mike Ryan. "We are confident our eight recommended investment and portfolio strategies will help investors better position themselves during this challenging and potentially disruptive time.”

UBS Wealth Management Research developed the eight investment and portfolio strategies in partnership with the firm’s Portfolio Advisory Group.

To obtain a copy of the report or seek more information, please contact Emma Stradling at Emma.Stradling@ubs.com.

About Wealth Management Research

UBS Wealth Management Research provides objective investment research and guidance to help clients pursue their personal financial goals. WMR analysts and strategists across the globe provide concise, reader-friendly, relevant research to help clients make confident investment decisions. Using a globally consistent approach, we examine a comprehensive range of asset classes while also concentrating on topics, such as social, demographic and geopolitical trends, that have a unique relevance to our private clients. Backed by the resources of one of the world's leading wealth managers, WMR is focused on one goal: to identify the trends and events affecting global and local markets and apply them to the interests and financial objectives of our private clients.

About UBS Wealth Management Americas:

Wealth Management Americas provides advice-based relationships through its financial advisors who deliver a fully integrated set of products and services specifically designed to address the needs of high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals and families. It includes the former Wealth Management US business area as well as the domestic Canadian business and the international business booked in the United States.