All articles by PBI Editorial
PBI Editorial
EFG CEO steps down, issues 2011 profit warning
EFG International founder Lonnie Howell is to step down as the banks chief executive as the Swiss private bank grapples with challenging business conditions and the continuing strength of the Swiss franc.
Industry must embrace change or suffer: PwC
The wealth management industry is facing huge challenges as it grapples with greater demands from wealthy clients as well as spiralling cost pressures, regulation and ongoing talent shortages, PwCs biennial global wealth survey has found. PwCs 2011 survey, Anticipating a New Age in Wealth Management, said increased regulation, and associated costs, were the number one challenge to business growth
FSA finds widespread sales suitability errors
The Financial Services Authority has put the UK wealth management industry on notice over what it calls significant and widespread failings over sales suitability In an open letter to wealth management chief executives, it ordered 260 firms to review advice given to clients or face disciplinary procedures. The warning comes after a review of 16 wealth management firms which provide advisory andor discretionary investment management services, predominantly to retail clients.
London and New York ‘fade’ as banking centres
London and New York are in danger of being superseded as private banking hubs by other financial centres, according to Michael Mainelli, director of consultancy ZYen Group. Banking centres do not die so much as fade away, which is what has been happening to London since 2007 and also to New York There are a greater variety of private banking centres than there are for other areas of financial services, so the options for relocation are increased, Mainelli said, citing Hong Kong and Singapore as examples of competitive financial centres.
BofAML, Amundi launch green tech bonds, ETF
Merrill Lynch wealth management clients will now be able to invest in environmental solutions through World Bank-sponsored fixed-income green tech bonds. The first World Bank Green Bonds to be offered through Bank of America Merrill Lynch were launched in the second quarter of 2011 Those bonds, which will mature on May 24, 2021, pay a 3.5% coupon for the first year that switches to a floating three-month USD-Libor based coupon after one year.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Get industry leading news, data and analysis delivered to your inbox
HNW want more control over investment behaviour
Two-fifths of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) wished they had more self-control over their financial behaviour by following stricter investment strategy rules,new research suggests. Barclays Wealths latest Insights report on behavioural finance suggested HNW investors with more than £10m ($16m) had the greatest desire for financial discipline. The Insights report said emotional trading can cost investors up to 20% in returns over a ten-year period and HNW investors with a rules-based strategy to investments had on average 12% more wealth than those who did not use rules.
China: HNWIs Long March to offshore wealth
Rich and elite Chinese are increasingly relocating abroad, taking significant portions of their financial assets with them This movement of high net worth individuals could prove to be a major opportunity for private banks to cultivate clients from Mainland China. Taking advantage of new freedoms, increasing numbers of wealthy Chinese are moving their residence, and their assets, abroad
Julius Baer opens Ascona, Ticino branch
Julius Baer has opened a new branch in Ascona, in the Swiss canton of Ticino. The new branch, to be led by Andreas Zwikirsch, opened on 18 April and offers the full range of private banking services, including e-banking, payment transactions and credits. Together with the existing office in Lugano, the new branch facilitates the further development of the market in the Ticino region
Regulators grant Julius Baer $100m QFII quota
Julius Baer, the Swiss-listed private bank, has received approval to set its investment quota at $100m under its existing Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) licence in China This allows the banks clients to directly invest up to $100min the countrys onshore equity and bond markets through a new China fund. Julius Baer was granted a QFII licence by the China Banking Regulatory Commission in December 2010.
Barclays latest to offer RMB investments to HNW
Barclays Wealth has become the latest private wealth manager to offer renminbi-denominated investment products driven by demand from its ultra high and high net worth clients The booming offshore market for the Chinese currency, the yuan renminbi (RMB), is driving demands for RMB-denominated investment services. Barclays Wealth clients can now invest in RMB deposits, RMB deliverable spots and forwards, foreign exchange swaps, inward and outward remittances as well as bonds.