UBS enters Dutch
market…
Merrill, Deutsche seek
Russian clients…
Vaduz moves to end EU tax
fraud dispute…
Client list hits JPMorgan
LatAm operations…
Taipei wants to be Asian
financial hub…
Netherlands
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UBS enters Dutch market
UBS is acquiring VermogensGroep, an independent Dutch wealth
manager to form what it said would be one of the leading wealth
firms in the country. Terms were not disclosed.
VermogensGroep serves wealthy private clients, foundations and
institutions in the Dutch market via 38 staff working in Amsterdam.
The firm manages client assets of about €4 billion and an
additional €10 billion in assets under administration. Its core
business is the provision of its wealth intelligence & control
solution, covering investment management, monitoring and reporting
services to some 100 ultra high net worth clients.
“This move will establish our physical wealth management presence
in The Netherlands with a quality local investment platform in
place,” UBS said.
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By GlobalDataUBS has also announced plans for a push into the Middle East,
having received a banking licence in Saudi Arabia. UBS plans to
open a wealth management service in the oil-rich state by the end
of 2008, while an application to operate in Qatar has also been
made.
Russia
Merrill, Deutsche seek Russian clients
Merrill Lynch is planning to establish a private banking office in
Moscow later this year in a bid to tap clients from Russia’s
fast-expanding community of millionaires. Jean-Marie Deluermoz, the
Merrill Global Wealth Management director who covers emerging
markets said that growth in Russian GDP, stock market
capitalisation and the corporate sector is “creating large amounts
of wealth.”
At the same time, Deutsche Bank Russia is opening a representative
office in St Petersburg to provide client support for private
wealth management and global transaction banking. It will be
Deutsche’s second office in Russia after Moscow where it has been
operating since 1998. Head of the private wealth management office
will be Ulyana Ivanova.
Separately, Werner Capital, claimed to be the first multi-family
office specialising in Russian clients in the UK, has opened in
London. The firm says it provides a “comprehensive management
service” for the family affairs of clients.
Werner, which was established by a number of Russian private
banking specialists, including former employees of Bordier et Cie
and HSBC Private Bank, is currently looking for a head of client
services to accelerate its development and growth.
Liechtenstein
Vaduz moves to end EU tax fraud dispute
After becoming embroiled in a major tax fraud row early in 2008,
Liechtenstein has pledged to increase co-operation with the
European Union. Negotiations on an anti-fraud agreement between
Brussels and Vaduz have almost been finalised after what a
Liechtenstein government spokesman called a “major policy
shift.”
The agreement will strengthen arrangements for the exchange of
information in tax-related offences, covering both indirect and
direct taxation. It also permits the drafting of stronger rules
covering co-operation between Liechtenstein and foreign tax
authorities.
In February, Germany launched a major investigation covering
wealthy citizens suspected of using secret Liechtenstein
foundations and trusts to evade tax.
Argentina
Client list hits JPMorgan LatAm operations
JPMorgan has been hit by an Argentinian newspaper’s publishing of a
list purporting to include 220 of the bank’s private clients in
Latin America.
The emergence of the list, which also features account numbers and
account sizes for the named individuals and institutions, comes as
JPMorgan has filed a civil suit against Hernan Arbizu, a former
employee.
JPMorgan alleges that Arbizu, formerly a vice-president at JPMorgan
Private Bank in Argentina and Chile, took confidential data from
clients and made unauthorised wire transfers between accounts. The
lawsuit was filed in a New York court on 16 June, ahead of the
publication of the list in Argentinian daily Critica on 22
June.
Taiwan
Taipei wants to be Asian financial hub
Taiwan plans to become a major Asia Pacific regional financial hub,
according to the island’s Financial Supervisory Commission. It will
focus on asset management, regional fundraising and financial
services.
To become a regional centre, Taiwan needs to change its regulations
on foreign exchange, cross-Strait relations with China and taxation
systems, officials warned.
Switzerland
Leumi sues former head of Swiss private
banking
Bank Leumi Switzerland has filed suit for CHF107 million ($106.5
million) against its former head of private banking Ernst Imfeld
for the damage caused by the alleged fraud he committed during the
1990s. Imfeld has been charged with fraud, embezzlement, document
forgery, and improper conduct toward the bank and its
customers.
The bank learned in January 2001 that Imfeld had engaged in alleged
unauthorised trading which resulted in losses to client accounts.
The affair cost Leumi Switzerland and its clients CHF229 million,
for which the bank received CHF83 million in compensation from its
insurance company.
Leumi Switzerland’s claim for damages will be heard during the
trial. Swiss law allows an injured party to bring a civil suit in
conjunction with criminal proceedings, if the suit has a clear and
direct connection to the criminal charge.
Leumi Switzerland, in which Israel’s Bank Leumi has an 84 percent
stake, was founded in 1953, providing private banking services at
its two branches in Zurich and Geneva, and two representative
offices in Israel and Hungary.
Switzerland
Swiss regulator will quarantine banks’ wealth
finances
The more stringent capital rules planned for UBS and Credit Suisse
will mean that their wealth management businesses can no longer
finance investment banking, according to Daniel Zuberbuehler, head
of the Swiss Federal Banking Commission.
Both banks will face the tougher capital rules by October which
will curtail their investment banking and dividend payouts,
Zuberbuehler said.
“UBS and Credit Suisse run the biggest part of their risks in
investment banking which, although I wouldn’t go so far as to say
is impossible to control, is certainly difficult to control,” he
was quoted as stating.
“There is good reason to be tougher with them (UBS and Credit
Suisse) and single them out for special treatment because of their
importance to Switzerland.”
Zuberbuehler laid down a tight timetable for the new rules,
tailor-made to restrain UBS and Credit Suisse so they do not again
run into the trouble that has made UBS the biggest European banking
casualty of the global credit crisis.
“What we want to do by October is agree the higher targets on
capitalisation, for example, which will be effective immediately,”
he said. “These could take three or four years to be reached,
depending on how the banks fare profit-wise.”
