Funds Hub
Money managers under the microscope
Morning Line-Up: Winters’ come back, Pru’s pension, double-dippers
News and views on the asset management industry from Reuters and elsewhere
Ex-JP Morgan Winters starts new fund – FT
Pru in pension top up court case - Guardian
“Double-dippers” in the frame in N.Y. pension debate – Reuters
Morning line-up: Eton, sovereigns and sport stars
News and views on the fund industry from Reuters and elsewhere:
Sovereign funds get merger mania – Reuters
…and tout for sport star biz – WSJ
Fees row in infrastructure – Reuters
Eton Park goes for gold – Bloomberg
from Summit Notebook:
Time private bankers got professional
It's hard to imagine that a banker who represents multimillionaires would be anything but professional - but a top executive at a leading global bank thinks that's precisely the wealth management industry's problem.
"There is so much mediocrity in the industry we have to raise the bar here," said Gerard Aquilina, vice chairman of Barclays Wealth, at the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit in Geneva.
To Aquilina's way of thinking, private bankers need the same "institutional rigor" as investment bankers in the way they operate. To this end the bank is looking to pursue only top-quality hires.
"Our strategy is not to be the hoover that comes and hires willy-nilly, we want to be much more selective," said Aquilina -- perhaps an ironic view given Barclays acquired thousands of investment bankers from the ashes of the fallen Lehman Brothers last year.
But he and his colleagues are so sure of their position that he said they are working on developing MBA-level courses with some unnamed top universities on private banking, especially as they see fewer and fewer interns turning up their noses at the prospect of a three-month rotation in the private banking shop.
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:
Private bankers chanting new mantra
Private bankers still getting their ears bashed from clients enraged about massive portfolio losses now are chanting a new mantra.
Murmur along with me, those seeking inner peace and appeased clients: the word is “holistic".
Three years ago, before Lehman and Madoff shattered clients’ confidence, the soothing formula might have been "absolute returns" or "structured products". No longer.
Bankers shooting French cuffs in Super 180 suits and obsessed with spread sheets now are seizing on a word redolent of green tea, acupuncture, crystals and the New Age.
"Holistic" bubbled up at least four times at the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit as bankers and consultants in Singapore and Geneva outlined how to keep clients after the market meltdown.
But what does a word meaning that whole entities have an existence other than the sum of their parts have to do with rich people and the gnomes that mind their money?
"Holistic" in bank-speak translates as handholding, face time and hustling to assure wary clients bankers are on the job. Mass mailings are out, daily phone calls are in.
from Summit Notebook:
Private Bank finds synergy in public bar
It is a little known fact that private bank Wegelin, Switzerland’s oldest bank is also active in the bars and restaurants business.
In its ‘Nonolet’ bars – a play on the Latin saying pecunia non olet (money doesn’t stink) - in St. Gallen and in Geneva, hedge fund managers and other financial professionals rub shoulders with other locals in the early evening over sparkling wine or champagne and snacks.
It may sound an odd sort of diversification, but Wegelin says there were forced to try a new line of business to ensure an upmarket crowd mingled on the ground floor of the Wegelin building.
“You cannot have a strange business there like a kebab shop,” said Wegelin partner Christian Raubach.
Wegelin was forced to launch a hostile takeover on a local bar which had attracted a lot of unruly drinkers near its St. Gallen branch office.
“We bought the bar, we fired the owners, and we put a nice Café in so we get a different crowd. The crowd that sits during the day drinking coffee and not vomiting drinking beer at night,” Raubach said.
The operation proved to be a success but is unlikely to develop in to a brand new business area.
from Summit Notebook:
Private banking: you may be worth it
Those who tend to avoid posh restaurants in Geneva’s expensive Rue du Rhone district and famed private banks because they believe they are not rich enough may be given a second chance at century-old wealth manager Julius Baer.
The Swiss private bank, which has made its name thanks to the services it offers to the ultra-rich, believe its powerful high-end brand may be keeping potential clients away.
“It’s a bit like the nice chic restaurant on Rue du Rhone you walk by 10 times and think: “I am not so sure I can go in there, it might be a bit sophisticated,” Boris Collardi, Chief Executive of Bank Julius Baer, told the Reuters Wealth Management Summit in Geneva.
“And then you end up going in there and you have a wonderful meal.”
Private banking services at Julius Baer start at around 1 million Swiss francs.
Worth trying?
