Hong Kong: UBS said yesterday it was ending 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 percent to $1.2m, eventually boosting it to 2.5m 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.

Meanwhile, Women’s world number two golfer Yani Tseng is mulling playing for a foreign country because she is unhappy about the neglect of the sport in her native Taiwan.

Tseng’s father Tseng Mao-hsin yesterday confirmed a news report that lack of respect for the sport in her home country, and not money, has prompted the move.

The report yesterday said Tseng is unhappy because Taiwan does not take golf seriously and has not responded for her call to hold a LPGA tournament in the country, even though LPGA has already approved the event.

Tseng has been invited to play for China and has been asked to give Beijing an answer before the end of the year, the United Daily News said.

Her father confirmed the report in an interview with cable TV channel ETTV.

“What makes us angry is that even at your home, you are not valued. When Singapore invited her, they let her fly first class and stay in the best hotel. But when she returns to Taiwan, her golf club and hand-carry luggage weighed over ten kilo, and our airline wanted to charge her for excess baggage,” he said.