February 4, 2012  Print Email | UBS bids adieu to Hong Kong Golf Open
Even HSBC reviewing golf sponsorship
Posted by Agencies at 05:23 AM GMT on Mar 11, 2009 | HONG KONG (AFP): UBS said today it was pulling out its five-year sponsorship of the Hong Kong Open golf tournament, amid huge losses at the Swiss bank.
Switzerland's second largest bank said the decision came after "a comprehensive review of its golf sponsorship programme in Asia Pacific and a re-balancing of its sponsorship programmes globally".
The deal will not be extended after this year's tournament, which takes place in November, Hong Kong-based spokesman Mark Panday said in a statement.
After taking the title sponsor role in 2005, UBS increased the prize money by 50 per cent to 1.2 million US dollars, eventually boosting it to 2.5 million in 2008, Panday said.
"UBS maintains an extensive sponsorship platform in Hong Kong which continues to encompass classical music and contemporary art," he said, adding the decision was not directly related to the financial slowdown.
Other sponsorship opportunities were being examined, he said.
UBS has been struggling to recover after losing billions in the US subprime home loan crisis and the ensuing financial meltdown. It is also caught up in a legal dispute with the United States over a tax evasion probe.
The UBS move comes after HSBC's head of sponsorship Giles Morgan said after the Women's Champions golf event in Singapore earlier this month that the bank was weighing up whether to continue its sponsorship of golf tournaments.
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