A look back at the most popular stories on thewealthnet last week....
10.
Sohbi Tabbara
Swiss wealth manager HBK Investments Advisory hired Sobhi Tabbara as a partner.
Mr Tabbara will join the executive committee and board of directors of HBK Investments Advisory upon ratification by the Swiss financial market regulator.
With a career spanning several decades in the banking and finance industry, Mr Tabbara started in 1986 at the Republic National Bank of New York and later worked at HSBC.
9.
The jury may still be out as to whether or not abrdn overpaid for interactive investor (ii), the execution brokerage it acquired in 2022.
But there is no denying the fact that ii has turned out to be a useful source of revenues and profits for a firm that is still struggling to break even during a protracted period of restructuring.
According to abrdn’s segmented accounts for 2023, ii contributed £224 million of revenues and £118 million of operating profits for the full-year. This compares with the £114 million and £67 million of revenues and profits contributed during seven months of 2022. [Read more]
8.
It is becoming more common for wealth firms to expand from the UK and other European countries to the UAE. What is less common is firms doing this the other way round. However, one business has made quite a splash doing just this in recent months.
Dubai-headquartered GSB was founded by Ross Whatnall and his wife Alison in 2021.
The idea for the business – which really is a family affair being named after the couple’s three children: George, Spencer and Beatrice – was born out of Mr Whatnall’s own frustrations. [Read more]
7.
Temenos AG, a Swiss banking software company was the latest to attract scrutiny from Hindenburg Research, a New York-based investment research firm that has achieved notoriety for its exposure of publicly-listed firms that engage in unethical or fraudulent business practices.
On 15 February Hindenburg published a report on Temenos based on a four month investigation into the firm. This involved interviews with 25 employees, including “senior leaders” at the company and uncovered manipulated earnings and major accounting irregularities.
Hindenburg said its investigation found “evidence of roundtripped revenue, sham partnerships, rampant pulling forward of contract renewals, backdated contracts, excessive capitalisation of seemingly non-existent R&D investments and other classic accounting red flags.” [Read more]
6.
Coutts managing director Dennis Howard moved to Jersey to lead the private bank's Crown Dependencies division.
Mr Howard held private banking and leadership roles across both the domestic and international businesses of Coutts, the private banking arm of the NatWest Group and investment provider of Coutts Crown Dependencies.
His responsibilities included leading the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific markets, and specialising in ultra-high net worth non-resident and resident non-domiciled clients.
5.
Analysing SJP’s annual and interim results is usually much more challenging than those of the majority of its peers in the UK wealth management sector.
Nonetheless, it did not take the market much time to deliver its view on the UK’s biggest advice-led wealth management firms 2023 full-year results.
Within 15 minutes of the London market opening the other morning (28/02/2024), SJP’s share price had fallen by 27.5 percent. It fell even further during the morning before recovering at around 12.00 to around 26 percent lower. [Read more]
4.
Jacob, the fourth Lord Rothschild, died at the age of 87.
The son of Victor Rothschild, the third Lord Rothschild, spent his entire working career in finance, initially with NM Rothschild, and then after 1980 on his behalf, during which he helped launch a number of companies, the most significant of which was St James’ Place, now one of the UK’s biggest wealth management firms.
Educated at Eton and Christchurch College, Oxford, Lord Rothschild joined NM Rothschild, the family firm, in 1959. He became a partner in 1963.
3.
Given the size of HSBC Holdings it should come as no surprise that its private banking operations easily surpass those of National Westminster (NatWest) in terms of profits and absolute size. But its two UK-based peers outperform their larger rival in other respects.
These are the main conclusions of a cheap and cheerful analysis of the three banking groups’ 2023 private banking results.
Having said this, a number of caveats apply. Interbank comparisons are always fraught with difficulty even if based on accounting not least because like is invariably not being compared with like. The definition of private banking varies between banks as do accounting policies, for example. [Read more here]
2.
The PAM Awards Judging Panel named 22 firms as finalists, across nine award categories for the 2024 PAM Awards.
As in previous years a broad range of firms of all shapes and sizes made the final shortlist, with size being no obstacle to success.
The winners will be announced on Thursday 14th March 2024 at the annual PAM Awards ceremony, which will be held at the Royal Lancaster in London.
1.
UK-based wealth management companies Waverton and London & Capital are set to merge.
This move, which is subject to regulatory approval, is designed to create a robust wealth management business with services that complement each other, Nick Tucker, chief executive of Waverton, and Guy McGlashan, chief executive of London & Capital, told thewealthnet.
“It genuinely is a merger of two great and growing businesses,” Mr McGlashan stressed. [Read more from Katie Royals]