Funds Hub
Money managers under the microscope
Morning Line-Up: Bankers’ pay, Sherborne/F&C , private equity
News and views on the asset management industry from Reuters and elsewhere:
Bankers’ pay structure overhaul – FT
Sherborne top F&C stakeholder – Daily Telegraph
Private equity firms gather billions from investors – Reuters
Morning Line-up: bonuses, London’s position, Chinese trusts
News and views on the asset management industry from Reuters and elsewhere
Osborne’s watered down bonus disclosure – FT
Rasmussen gives the bankers both barrels
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen’s visits to London are always value for money, and today was no exception as the president of the party of European socialists launched into a tirade against banker bonuses.
“When I listen to you it’s like you’re living in another world,” he told an audience of financial executives and journalists at a Chatham House conference after a number of questions from the floor suggested EU plans for tighter regulation might be counter-productive.
“Have you heard about the recession? Do you know that we have lost 7 million jobs in Europe? Do you know that?
“Do you know that thanks to society you’re still sitting here. They are the ones who are bailing out the banks and you’re still insisting that you should have your bonuses on taxpayers’ money.
“Can you understand the seriousness of people’s anger? I don’t hear any indication of your understanding of that, and that’s a problem for you. Because if you don’t listen and if you don’t honestly go into a discussion on how to make real regulation but insist that you should not have regulation … that’s not a sustainable point.
“So in your own interests, can I give you good advice? Sit down at the table and start by recognizing that you have had a co-responsibility and a heavy one in the reasons behind the mess we are in right now… It is inevitable for me to say you are going to have regulation.”
New blow for hedge fund lobby
The battle over how hedge funds will be regulated by the EU has been going on for some time now and has taken many twists and turns along the way.
However, after apparently making progress with the latest compromise text from Sweden, opponents of tough regulation may have hit a setback.
According to a report by Jean-Paul Gauzes, obtained by Reuters, the Frenchman has recommended tighter rules than many had expected.
These include funds having to tell regulators how much they intend to borrow, the creation of a pan-European watchdog that could intervene if a fund is seen to be taking too much risk, and the same pay curbs as for bankers.
The Gauzes report, which was due to be published this week and discussed by committee next week, was seen by many in the industry as an influential report from a level-headed policy maker who had previously worked in the financial services industry and who therefore may have taken a softer line than some supporters of the bill.
There is still a long, complicated path to tread before the final set of rules is revealed, but the Gauzes report shows there is still plenty of lobbying to be done by the (within Europe at least) mainly UK-based industry.
Supporters of the bill, in contrast, keen to strike while the regulatory iron is hot, must surely be pleased that these measures are being recommended.
All these restrictions will change the nature of hedge funds into mutual funds.
It will be better for them to enforce ethical rules (eg no insider trading) but leave out the investment details.
After all, hedge funds are meant to take extreme risks to gain the maximum possible profits
from Summit Notebook:
Tax evaders on the run
By Neil Chatterjee The U.S. has promised it will hunt down tax evaders. And it seems tax evaders are on the run. DBS bank, based in the growing offshore financial centre of Singapore, told Reuters it had been approached by U.S. citizens asking for its private banking services. But when told they would have to sign U.S. tax declaration forms, the potential clients disappeared. Swiss banks also approached DBS on the hope they could offload troublesome U.S. clients to a location that so far has not been reached by the strong arms of Washington or Brussels. DBS said no thanks. In fact many private banks and boutique advisors now seem to be avoiding U.S. clients. Will this spread to other nationalities, as governments invest in tax spies and tax havens invest in white paint? Is this the end of offshore private private banking?
from Summit Notebook:
Geneva is for wealth management
Even for an American who's not wealthy, Geneva has a reputation as a global centre for wealth management - the place the world's rich come to stash their money and (they hope) make it grow.
But you don't necessarily expect it to be so aggressive -- after all, the rich tend to be demure when it comes to their banking.
Imagine one reporter's surprise, then, on arriving in the airport in Geneva and seeing bank ads everywhere. Think of the casino adds in Las Vegas's McCarron Airport or the technology ads in San Jose's Mineta Airport: it's the exactly the same in Geneva, only with wealth managers.
Look left - there's UBS. Look right - there's Julius Baer. Look up in the baggage queue - there's a Swiss bank that emphasises a focus on the Arab world. A complete unscientific guesstimate suggests the display ads in the terminal run about 75 percent wealth management and 25 percent fine watches. (No surprise that every other storefront in the Ville Centre area of Geneva has watches on offer.)
There is one plus to all of the bank ads in the airport for the less wealthy though. Tell your cab driver to head toward their addresses and you're likely to find the city's best cafes.
