All articles by PBI Editorial
PBI Editorial
US clients vote for independence
Its not hard to trace the dissatisfaction from the source, and its hard for the big investment banks to avoid the taint, even if their divisions are blameless. Unlike many debacles in the past, this time some well-known heads were lopped off, from division chiefs to CEOs, including Merrills Stanley ONeal, Citis Charles Prince, and both UBS Peter Wuffli and the firms chairman, Marcel Ospel. Such news rolls downhill from the boardroom to the advisers office, where worried clientele look past relatively healthy wealth management numbers and wonder whether the entire sector is headed for a fall.Its tough to poach wealthy clients when times are good, but now registered investment advisers (RIAs) are swooping in and finding that the weakened big brokerage wirehouses are no match for them
Creating a superbrand
There has never been a better time to win client trust and confidence through a strong global wealth brand. The wealth management industry is increasingly becoming aware of the need to establish a strong brand image with clients That represents a sea-change for much of the industry, which has long relied upon inheritors of family wealth continuing to use their services through the generations; meaning more traditional marketing has been neglected in favour of word-of-mouth and personal recommendations.Indeed, traditionally wealth managers have prided themselves on discretion and maintaining a low profile
Still growing – and underbanked
The private banking market in Spain is set to keep on growing in 2008 despite the impact of a slowing economy and the property crisis that is hitting the country, although the torrid expansion of recent years is coming off the boil, according to new studies.The expectation in Spains wealth industry is that the volume of assets under management by private banks in the country will increase 10 percent this year, according to Madrid consultancy Tatum in its latest report on the local private banking market.The strong performance, however, pales in comparison with the 16 percent to 18 percent estimated growth posted in 2006
Ambitious ANZ looks to Asia
Growth in Asia is the plan, and not just in the established centres of Hong Kong and Singapore. ANZ is looking to push farther into Asia, in line with its long-term growth strategy, and to that end has marked the turn of the Chinese New Year by unveiling an aggressive blueprint for expansion
Subprime fallout makes its mark
EFG International, among the most strongly growing private banks, reported that its relationship officers had to spend much time reassuring clients during the third quarter of 2007, even though the bank itself has no subprime exposure losses.As a result, EFG client assets under management were flat in the quarter, at CHF87.0 billion ($76 billion), compared with the CHF86.9 billion registered at the end of the second quarter
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StanChart gets Amex private bank for bargain price
After being shopping around the wealth industry for several months, American Express Bank has been finally sold to Standard Chartered (StanChart) on terms that were tantamount to a give-way firesale.StanCharts global private banking head, Peter Flavel, now in the middle of a ten-market roll-out of the banks new private banking offer, declared that the acquisition puts the private bank forward at least three years in our wealth plans.The deal should help StanChart, which a decade ago sold its original private banking operations to Swiss Bank Corp, now part of UBS, well on the pace to catch up its big rivals
People Digest
He reports to Charles Egerton- Warburton, Credit Suisses head of UKIreland Private Banking.UKNewbury elevated to Hambross chairmanSG Hambros Bank, the UK arm of SG Private Banking, has elevated Warwick Newbury to chairman to replace the retiring Nicholas Assheton.Eric Barnett, the current group head of private banking, replaces Newbury as chief executive
In IT we trust
Technology is a key driver to allow trust companies to compete.Wealth management services offered by banks, brokers and other players have moved on, leaving the trust increasingly perceived as an anachronistic holdover from yesteryear.But change is afoot, according to a new report on trust technology by Robert Ellis, a senior analyst at US wealth researchers Celent He contends that a sea change is occurring in the way technology will impact on the trust industry.The trust industry has shown itself to be a poor adapter to the new realities of the wealth management industry, having declined from the prevalent form of wealth management just fifty years ago to a much smaller market share today, Ellis says
Client ‘flight to advice’, not safety, to determine wealth winners
After the stampede by clients to the safety of banks perceived to be most sound, what private bankers are starting to call a flight to advice is going to be the next real test of who will flourish in much more demanding markets in the wake of the credit crisis.
Putting family first
Family offices in the US now play host to collective assets of more than $1 trillion, a new report from US consultancy. Celent reveals, indicating the extent to which interest in the industry has accelerated over the past decade. Single family offices (SFOs) in the US have approximately $300 million in assets under advisement, the report indicates, with multi-family offices (MFOs) managing or guiding some $750 billion.But the amount required to make running an SFO practical has also risen sharply, with the average estimate of such a figure now standing at $250 million far in excess of earlier estimates of $100 million.Nonetheless, there are now between 500 and 1,000 SFOs and between 2,500 and 3,000 MFOs in the US, according to Celent