Sunday, 5th July 2009

 

Wealth Business

  1. Bank staff fall short on regulatory know-how

    Nearly half of investment banks are concerned about the knowledge of their staff on regulatory matters, according to a new survey which supports calls for better education of bankers in light of the financial crisis.

  2. Och-Ziff funds post gains in June but assets drop

    Publicly traded hedge fund manager Och-Ziff Capital Management saw gains in all its main funds during June, but investor withdrawals led to an $800m (€571m) decrease in assets under management for the month compared to May.

  3. Credit Suisse attracts fresh fund inflows at wealth unit

    Credit Suisse's Asia-Pacific private banking business has attracted net fund inflows worth SFr2.6bn (€1.7bn) during the first quarter, representing an annualised 20% growth, Lito Camacho, vice-chairman, Credit Suisse Asia Pacific and Singapore chief executive, told The Business Times.

  4. Ex-UBS star fund manager launches $1bn venture

    Brian Singer, the veteran financier who quit UBS Global Asset Management in 2007, has launched a new venture titled Singer Partners, with $1bn (€713m) in initial assets, according to a Reuters report.

  5. Austrian private banker under scanner over alleged Madoff kickbacks

    US, UK and Austrian prosecutors are probing Sonja Kohn, a former Austrian fund manager, they believe was paid over $40m (€29m) in bribes to steer billions of dollars of investments towards Bernard Madoff, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

  6. Merrill wealth chief remains upbeat over growth outlook

    Merrill Lynch has begun recruiting trainees again, is launching more banking products in a phased manner and sees increased appetite among clients to invest, said Dan Sontag, chief of Merrill Lynch global wealth management, according to a report in The Charlotte Observer.

  7. Indian HNIs shun big brokers for boutique advisers

    High net worth Indian individuals are increasingly turning to boutique advisory firms, having suffered sharp erosion in their portfolios following aggressive bets undertaken by their big institutional brokers, according to a report in The Economic Times.

  8. AIG fund victims get financing for fight

    The AIG Investor Action Group, the lobby group set up to represent those who lost money in the enhanced money market fund, have received financing to continue their fight for compensation from the private banks which advised them to invest in the fund.

  9. European bank launches French wealth initiative with acquisition

    Banco Espirito Santo has acquired Marignan Gestion, a Paris-based wealth manager, in order to develop an onshore private banking business in France. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

  10. Credit Suisse eyes ‘several hundred’ recruits for Japanese wealth unit

    Credit Suisse may recruit “several hundred” staff for its Japanese private banking operations, said Junya Tani, the Swiss bank’s country head, on Tuesday, according to a Bloomberg report.

Brummel

Relocation, relocation, relocation

Banks have never been shy of firing staff at the merest whiff of a downturn. First the fat, then the muscle and finally the bone. In the past, cuts have been so deep that firms have found it hard to benefit when the markets rebounded, paying over the odds to restaff at speed. Such wild oscillations in staffing numbers are known as “doing a Merrill”.

Rich Monitor

$95 Million Trump House Could Be Sold–Again

Donald Trump set a record when he sold a house for $95 million last year. It was, he proudly pointed out, the largest amount paid in the U.S. for a single-family home.

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