The Swiss-based group, the world's seventh-largest bank by market value, is looking at opportunities for growth in India and China, where it has been seeking investment banking partners.
"Japan is the world's second-biggest economy and also an economy with still some considerable and complex problems to solve and that will see a lot of activities in investment banking deals," Rory Tapner, Chairman and Chief Executive for UBS's Asia-Pacific region, said at a news conference.
"All cross-border opportunities, in all of the north-eastern parts (of Asia), that activity is only going to increase," he said, adding there would be considerable activity in the banking and insurance sectors.
Expectations of a new wave of restructuring and consolidation in South Korean banks and insurance companies were raising the prospects of more advisory roles for UBS, he said.
Foreign investors, including Citigroup and private equity funds - Lone Star and Ripplewood - have bought banks in Asia to get a toehold in the industry.
Citigroup, the world's largest financial group, recently acquired South Korea's sixth-biggest lender, KorAm Bank, in a $2.7 billion deal.
Foreign buyout funds also have shown keen interest in South Korea's insurance market, which has yet to consolidate.
The 45-year-old chairman also singled out South Korea's information technology and electronics sectors as likely to see more M&A deals, while he said there was "a long way to go" for consolidation in the banking sector.
Tapner, who headed the bank's investment banking department before taking up the CEO post for Asia-Pacific in May, said foreign firms were still looking to take control of South Korean banks. He did not elaborate.
As part of plans to increase commitments in Asia, UBS had made it a priority to build asset and wealth management operations in South Korea, Tapner said.
"In Korea, the future will be more on asset management," he said without elaborating on how it planned to enter the business.
South Korea's $140 billion fund management industry has been attracting banks and foreign funds as citizens seek new investment opportunities at a time when incomes are growing and deposit rates falling.
Two state-run asset managers have been up for sale, while Fidelity Investments, the world's biggest mutual fund company, is set to open its operations in the second half of this year.
UBS has been active in underwriting share offerings and mergers in South Korea, competing with Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, and running brokerage and bank branches.