www.syzgroup.com. SYZ adquiere la filial de banca privada de Royal Bank of Canada en Suiza
The Swiss banking group SYZ has signed an agreement to acquire Royal Bank of Canada (Suisse) SA. With approximately CHF 10 billion in assets under management, the Swiss private banking subsidiary of RBC is chiefly active in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. These are complementary markets for SYZ Group, which will manage nearly CHF 40 billion in assets. This acquisition allows SYZ to extend its international footprint to raise its profitability and to deliver significant synergies.
With the acquisition of Royal Bank of Canada (Suisse) SA, the assets under management of the private banking business of SYZ Group will double, reaching nearly CHF 22 billion and making it one of the top 20 largest private banks in Switzerland. In total, including its Asset Management and Wealth Management divisions, the Group will manage nearly CHF 40 billion in assets under management.
“This acquisition will enable Banque SYZ to access new markets in Latin America, Africa and Middle East, where strong entrepreneurship, one of our founding values, is expanding. It also represents a major step forward in terms of the Group’s growth strategy. I am delighted to welcome these new teams to our organization and I firmly believe that we will benefit enormously from their many skills.” stated Eric Syz, CEO of the Group.
This transaction is still subject to the approval of the Swiss regulatory authorities.
Patricia Carral, SVP, y Mary Oliva, presidente de International Wealth Protection / Foto cedida. International Wealth Protection anuncia la incorporación de Patricia Carral, reconocida líder en planificación patrimonial
International Wealth Protection announced that Patricia Carral has joined the firm as Senior Vice President to support their exponential growth and demand for unparalleled wealth protection strategies.
Ms. Carral has been servicing Latin America’s high net worth clients for over 15 years. She was an integral member of HSBC’s International Private Bank and most recently served as Head of Private Clients – Latin America for Amicorp in Miami. She is a sought after industry expert given her experience in assisting ultra-high net worth families throughout the hemisphere with their generational wealth planning needs. Patricia, an active Trust and Estate Practitioner and a Board Member of STEP Miami Branch, has been a key participant in numerous wealth planning transactions that have involved global financial institutions, local and international accountancy and consulting firms, law practitioners and family offices. She specializes in identifying and creating the most sophisticated and suitable fiduciary solutions for the optimization of wealth preservation and transfer.
“I am honored to have Patricia join our team, her vast fiduciary experience will benefit our clients as the wealth planning and protection landscape is continuously evolving in Latin America and demands comprehensive leading edge strategies. International Wealth Protection represents the next generation of insurance based solutions and truly being able to provide clients with a holistic platform accomplishes this”, said Mary Oliva, President of International Wealth Protection.
“My decision to join International Wealth Protection stems from the realization that insurance based solutions play an integral role in developing a solid estate plan for our multinational clients. The immediate liquidity provided by insurance and its favorable tax treatment in most jurisdictions allows them to enjoy, grow and protect their wealth, for many generations to come”, said Patricia Carral.
. Mark Mobius dejará de ser el portfolio manager de referencia del Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust a partir del 1 de octubre
Mark Mobius will be replaced by Carlos Hardenberg as lead portfolio manager of the Templeton Emerging Markets investment trust on October 1st.
Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, has been leading the trust since its launch in June 1989. He will remain a portfolio manager on the team, the trust explained in a statement.
Hardenberg will relocate to London. Having joined the firm in 2002, he is senior vice president and managing director of Templeton Emerging Markets group.
Hardenberg will be supported by Chetan Sehgal, director of the small cap strategy, who will remain a senior research analyst. Mobius will continue to lead the 52 person Templeton Emerging Markets group and will remain “fully engaged in the team’s research and investment activities.”
Peter Smith, chairman of Temit, said : “Under the Templeton Emerging Markets Group, Temit has grown to be the largest emerging market investment trust in the AIC Investment Trust – Global Emerging Markets sector, with assets under management of £1.9bn.
“We believe that the appointment of Carlos Hardenberg as lead portfolio manager, supported by Mark Mobius and Chetan Sehgal, will provide renewed focus for the next stage in the company’s development.”
Research from Standard Life Investments suggests that the biggest threat to the global economy is currently China. In the latest edition of Global Outlook, Standard Life Investments investigates what is driving China’s growth slow-down and looks beyond simple GDP figures.
Jeremy Lawson, Chief Economist, Standard Life Investments, said:“China is seeing its slowest rate of economic growth since the financial crisis, along with rapidly declining commodity prices, falling export trade and a dramatic deterioration in nominal activity. However, the epicentres of China’s economic problems are the industrial and property sectors.
“Growth of industrial output has declined from 14% in 2011 to around 6% in 2015, whilst industrial electricity consumption is in outright decline. China’s trade with the outside world is falling, and real estate investment – the primary engine of growth until last year – is going through a prolonged slump.
“The main components of activity preventing a deeper downturn are: private spending on financial services, government-led spending on transport infrastructure, retail sales and services-led electricity consumption. This suggests that China has begun the rebalancing towards a more sustainable, consumption-led growth model – although it’s too early to claim success.
“A hard landing in China would obviously be a large negative shock for the global economy, representing as it does 12% of global GDP and 18% of global manufacturing exports. Some countries stand to lose the most from any failure of China to stabilise growth. On the commodities front, countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile and Peru stand out. In manufacturing – Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are most exposed. Whilst developed economies like Germany export a sizable amount of capital goods to China.
“There is good news – our research shows that most of the emerging markets are in a much better position to withstand external shocks than they were in the 1990, thanks to improved fiscal and monetary frameworks.
“Overall, the government has stepped up the pace of structural reforms – liberalising the financial system, cracking down on corruption and loosening fiscal policy, albeit in a targeted way. As a result we expect there to be modest success in boosting GDP although the longer-term glide path is towards slower growth.”
Photo: Eduardo Marquetti. Fitch: Europe Credit Investors See EM Risk Contagion via Brazil
European credit investors see more possibility of contagion from emerging market risks via Brazil than other major emerging markets (EMs), according to Fitch Ratings’ latest senior investor survey.
Seventy-six percent of respondents to the survey, which closed on 2 July, selected Brazil when asked to choose two countries from a list of five where they felt the wider contagion threat of EMs facing imbalances, political challenges, and rising US rates was most acute. This was twice as many as Russia (38%). Thirty-six percent selected China and 30% Turkey. Just 7% identified an acute risk of contagion via India.
EMs face various challenges heading into 2H15. Commodity prices have fallen, an approaching Fed rate rise points to a less favourable external financing environment, and some EMs face structural growth challenges.
Brazil (BBB/Negative) and India’s (BBB-/Stable) sovereign credit profiles are cushioned from external shocks by robust international reserves, and the authorities in both countries have taken policy measures aimed at reducing imbalances. Reliance on portfolio inflows to finance the current account deficit is not significant in either country.
The front-loaded macroeconomic adjustment programme adopted by Brazil’s Rousseff administration in its second term could gradually help improve policy credibility, confidence, and investment prospects. But weak political and economic backdrops (we forecast a GDP contraction of 1.5% this year) may hinder implementation.
Meanwhile, Latin American non-financial corporates, led by those in Brazil, have significantly increased their dollar borrowing while US rates have been low, increasing their exposure to a rising dollar. As the Central Bank of Brazil has tightened policy and allowed the real to depreciate, Brazilian issuers face rising internal and external interest rates during a recession.
Forty-six percent of our 2Q15 survey respondents think EM corporates will face the greatest refinancing challenge over the next 12 months – more than twice the next-highest category (EM sovereigns, with 20%).
“We think India has made more tangible progress in reducing its exposure to Fed-driven market volatility since the ‘Taper Tantrum’ two years ago. Foreign-exchange reserves have grown and are high in terms of current exchange payments relative to peers. The current account remains in deficit, but has narrowed, initially helped by temporary gold import curbs, but also due to the fall in international oil prices and lower inflation reducing investment demand for gold”, point out Fitch.
Structural reforms and the resulting pick-up in investment support India’s growth outlook, and we forecast growth to accelerate to 8.1% in FY17. But Fed tightening will not be risk-free for India, due to the possibility of large foreign outflows from its debt and equity markets
Fitch’s 2Q15 survey represents the views of managers of an estimated EUR7.8trn of fixed-income assets. We will publish the full results later in July.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrFoto: Koshirokun, Flickr, Creative Commons. Las mayores oportunidades para el negocio de wealth management están en EE.UU.
The global wealth management industry had a solid business year in 2014 in terms of financial results for the operating model. In spite of financial market uncertainties and currency volatility most lead players experienced overall growth in client volumes. However, the latest KPI growth rates came off the higher ratios in the previous reporting year. The financial year also heralded a landmark breakthrough for two operators – UBS and Morgan Stanley – as their assets under management (AUM) figures surged beyond USD2 trillion (Figure 1).
According to The Global Private Banking Benchmark 2015 released from Scorpio Partnership, AUM for the over 200 industry players annually assessed moved upward by an average 3.4% and operating profits also improved by an average of 3.3%. However, these solid figures are tempered by continued pressure on the operating efficiency measured by cost-income ratios. In the latest report the industry average rose 90 basis points to 84.4% (Figure 2).
“This is a complex moment in the history of our industry. The operating model is facing major growing pains to accomodate the expectations of financial groups for wealth management divisions to deliver sustained high margin results. The good news is client volumes and demand for wealth services are strengthening for many. But the bad news is the industry is still tackling major compression factors in terms of costs versus income. Some are not moving quickly enough with rates of growth slowing,” said Sebastian Dovey, managing partner of Scorpio Partnership.
Based on analysis of reported financials from over 200 wealth management business lines across the globe, this year’s worldwide ranking saw few changes among the top cohort. Aside from UBS and Morgan Stanley breaking through the USD2trn barrier, the majority of the market leaders remained in stasis.
A number of firms – mostly headquartered in Europe – have been adversely affected by the currency performance of the Euro. The most notable step change was posted for BMO Financial Group based on an effective acquisition strategy during the year in review. Meanwhile, based on growth projections it is likely that Bank of America Merrill Lynch will pass the USD2trn hurdle in the coming 12 months.
“Looking ahead, in the intensively competitive market it will be the details that make the margin of difference. The winners will be those that pay the most detailed attention to the optimised commercialisation of the client journey and benchmarking this among peers. Aside from the annual benchmarking, our unique collation of HNW and UHNW client satisfaction ratings of firms identifies who is leading in this context,” added Scorpio Partnership’s Dovey.
Market share of wealth assets dominated by a select few
Now in its 14th year, the influential annual Scorpio Partnership Private Banking Benchmark, estimates that the global industry now manages USD20.6 trillion in investable assets on behalf of high net worth investors. Amid this total industry AUM data point, the market share concentration among the largest houses is significant. The top 10 global operators in AUM terms collectively manage 47.1% of the market (Figure 3). UBS holds a 9.9% industry share.
The US operators continue to dominate the market share ratios driven largely by their domestic franchises. According to various industry estimates the US remains the largest market of opportunity for HNW business. Equally, the scale of the market opportunity is also reflected in the strong growth in AUM posted by US operators. The 10 leading firms are registering an average AUM growth ratio of 7.1% – over twice the global average (Figure 4).
Giordano Lombardo, CIO de Pioneer Investments. ¿La muerte de la renta fija? No tan rápido...
Pioneer Investments has announced that it has been recognized as the Fixed Income Manager of the Year at the “Global Investor 2015 Awards for Investment Excellence.” This is the second year in a row that Pioneer Investments has won this award while in 2011, Pioneer Investments was declared the best US Fixed Income house.
In winning the award, Pioneer Investments faced strong competition from many of the world’s premier asset managers. This year’s awards were judged by an independent panel, comprised of senior managers from the institutional investment consultant and pension communities, among others. According to Global Investor, some of the comments provided by the panel on Pioneer Investments were, ‘global footprint’, ‘wide range of products’, and ‘still innovating’.
Giordano Lombardo, CEO and Group CIO said, “This award further recognizes Pioneer Investments’ best-in-class fixed income proposition across US, Europe and Emerging Markets. We are extremely pleased to win this award and that the performance of our fixed income range has been awarded for the second consecutive year. Our priority is to continue to strive to produce strong investment performance and innovative solutions for our clients in the future.”
The Global Investor Investment Excellence Awards, now in their fifteenth year, celebrate the greatest achievements of asset managers and associated firms such as investment consultants and fund administrators. The awards ceremony was held on 2nd of July in London.
Paris-based DNCA Finance, which has recently become a Natixis’ boutique, rebrands itself as DNCA Investments, celebrating 15 years of existence.
This change aims to improve the visibility of the firm towards international investors as it is now set to speed up its development both on retail and institutional businesses by using Natixis’ global distribution platform. “In order to expand internationally DNCA decided to slightly adapt “its signature” and make it sound more global. The name of the legal entity remains DNCA Finance but the marketing brand becomes DNCA Investments, that way it resonates globally”, the company says to Funds Society.
DNCA Investments intends to enter new markets, including Spain, and to expand its presence in existing markets such as Germany, Switzerland, USA Offshore and Latin America.
DNCA Investments, which has expertise in European equities, manages €16.5bn in assets as at June 2015.
Foto: Nothing is impossible for a willing heart, Flickr, Creative Commons.. Radiografía del sector tecnológico en Asia
China’s stock market crash must act as a wake-up call for investors to urgently reassess their portfolios, warns the chief executive of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organizations. Nigel Green, the founder and CEO of deVere Group, is speaking out as the China stock market’s downward spiral enters its third week, with share prices losing 30 per cent of their value since the middle of June.
Mr Green observes: “Much of the world’s attention is on Greece right now. Whilst it is right that investors keep a close eye on the Greek saga, one eye must remain firmly on the burgeoning crisis in China.
“With the Chinese stock market losing a third of its value since mid June, which is about equivalent to the UK’s entire economic output last year, or in other terms the GDP of Greece every two days for the last 10 days, this has all the makings of morphing into a major financial crisis.
“China’s government and regulators appear to be pulling out all the stops to support share prices – including a defacto suspension of new listings and interest rates being cut to new record lows – although investors seem to be unconvinced that this will help.
“Despite few foreign investors having much exposure to the Chinese stock markets, the meltdown matters.
“Indeed, it is hugely significant because it will send shock waves throughout global capital markets, not least because China is the world’s second largest economy and one of the largest consumers of commodities and other goods sold by other countries.
“As such, China, not Greece, is arguably the main cause for concern for investors right now.”
Mr Green continues: “Bearing in mind the potentially enormous fallout of China’s plunging markets, I would urge investors to urgently reassess their portfolios to ensure they are appropriately diversified.
“Investors with the most diversified portfolios stand to lose the least. Geopolitical events like this highlight once again the need for multi asset investing, across regions and asset classes, as a way of reducing the adverse consequences of such events.”
He adds: “Failure to diversify a portfolio is widely regarded as one of the most common investment pitfalls – and history teaches us that diversification in these times of rising market volatility is even more essential as the tides can change quickly. Spreading your money around is a vital tool to manage risk.”
Photo: Cheezepie, Flickr, Creative Commons. S&P Dow Jones Indices Launches First of Its Kind Index Tracking the Debt of the S&P 500® Companies
S&P Dow Jones Indices (“S&P DJI”), one of the world’s leading index providers, has launched the market’s first ever index that tracks the debt of the S&P 500 companies. S&P 500 Bond Index is priced in real-time throughout the day and directly corresponds to movement in the U.S. bond market. The Index offers previously unavailable intraday transparency to the pricing of debt on America’s most influential companies.
S&P DJI has contracted with Thomson Reuters to provide end-of-day prices, as well as terms and conditions data.
The introduction of the S&P 500 Bond Index allows for side-by-side analysis of the performance differential between U.S. equity and bond markets, a direct comparison that was unavailable until this launch. Weighted by the market value of the bonds and with a maturity requirement of greater than one month, the S&P 500 Bond Index is liquid enough to also serve as the basis for potential exchange traded products and structured products.
“S&P Dow Jones Indices is introducing the S&P 500 Bond Index at a critical juncture as two major trends converge,” says J.R. Rieger, Head of Fixed Income, for S&P Dow Jones Indices. “First, global markets are grappling with the potential end of a six-year bond rally, the end of which could have significant ramifications for portfolio debt holdings. Second, regulatory changes resulting from Dodd Frank, the post-Libor landscape, and Basel III for example, have many concerned about diminished liquidity in the bond markets. As a result, the market is begging for an intra-day measure that can provide broad transparency into company debt and that is liquid enough to potentially trade throughout the day via exchange traded and structured products.”
“We are delighted that S&P Dow Jones Indices will use our fixed income end-of-day pricing in conjunction with our comprehensive and high quality bond terms and conditions data for their new S&P 500 Bond Index,” says Marion Leslie, Managing Director, Pricing & Reference Services at Thomson Reuters. “Thomson Reuters is committed to partnering with the market’s leading service providers, ensuring market participants are able to benefit from our award winning content via multiple partners, platforms and applications.”
The S&P 500 Bond Index currently tracks the debt of 430 S&P 500 companies reflecting over $3 trillion in debt outstanding and $3.8 trillion in market value. S&P DJI is publishing over 20 years of daily historical data on the S&P 500 Bond Index on its website, www.spdji.com. The complete methodology for the Index is also posted to this site.
