Retail News CRM

Tag: banker

  • Vietnam central bank governor earns ‘A+’ in Global Finance report

    Vietnam central bank governor earns ‘A+’ in Global Finance report

    Global Finance magazine has given Nguyen Thi Hong, Vietnam’s first female central bank governor, an A+ on its 2023 Central Banker Report Cards.

    Hong, 55, is one of only three central bank governors in the world that was rated A+ by the U.S.-based magazine.

    The other two were the Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das and Thomas J Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank.

    Hong became Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), appointed by the legislative National Assembly, in November 2020.

    She holds a master’s degree in Developmental Economics and started working at SBV in 1991, where she held several management positions.

    The Central Banker Report Cards, published annually by Global Finance since 1994, grade the central bank governors of 101 key countries, territories, and districts, including the European Union, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the Bank of Central African States, and the Central Bank of West African States.

    Grades are based on a scale from A to F for success in inflation control, economic growth goals, currency stability and interest rate management, with an “A” representing an excellent performance down through an “F” for outright failure.

    The full Central Banker Report Cards 2023 report and grade list will appear in Global Finance’s October issue print editions, as well as online at GFMag.com.

    “Fighting inflation, which has been fueled by pent-up demand and disrupted supply chains, has everyone turning to their central bankers for help,” said Global Finance founder and editorial director Joseph Giarraputo.

    Governors that earned an A grade included Brazil’s Roberto Campos Neto, Israel’s Amir Yaron, Harvesh Kumar Seegolam of Mauritius, New Zealand’s Adrian Orr, Paraguay’s Jose Cantero Sienra, Julio Velarde of Peru, Chin-Long Yang of Taiwan, and Uruguay’s Diego Labat.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • More Barclays Bankers Decamp for UBS

    More Barclays Bankers Decamp for UBS

    For the second time in weeks, Barclays bankers are leaving for UBS. Six investment bankers in the US are on the move.

    UBS appears to have found rich poaching grounds at Barclays, as it is hiring half a dozen investment bankers specializing in technology, media, and telecom companies,  citing sources familiar.

    According to the sources, Richard Hardegree, Laurence Braham, Ozzie Ramos, Richard Casavechia, Neil Meyer, Jason Williams, and Ken Tittle are those departing for UBS locations in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago.

    The recent departures follow three more in April, when it was announced Marco Valla, Jeff Hinton, and Kurt Anthony are joining the UBS banking team in New York, with Valla appointed co-head of global banking alongside Javier Oficialdegui.

    Although UBS wants to reduce its investment banking to 25 percent or less of risk-weighted assets as part of its new structure with the merger with Credit Suisse, it wants to stay active in certain sectors. The recent hires appear to confirm that.

    Neither bank commented to Bloomberg about the departures, first reported by Reuters.

    Lees ook:

  • Goldman Sachs Unloads 30 Bankers in Asia

    Goldman Sachs Unloads 30 Bankers in Asia

    As many as 30 bankers have left Goldman Sachs in Asia, as part of a global exercise to trim workers.

    Up to 30 investment bankers have left Goldman Sachs in Asia, sources said, across teams in equity capital markets, healthcare as well as technology, media and telecommunications (TMT), especially those involved in Greater China deals.

    Every year globally we conduct a strategic assessment of our resources and calibrate headcount to the current operating environment, said a spokesperson for the bank. We continue to remain flexible while executing against our strategic growth priorities.

    According to a source familiar with the matter, the job cuts are part of a yearly practice that has been paused for two years during the pandemic.

    Separately, a Reuters report last week said that Goldman’s annual exercise typically results in a 1-5 percent reduction of staff each year with 2022 expected to result in the lower end of that range. Globally, the bank’s headcount reached 47,000, as of end-June, up 15 percent year-on-year.

    Lees ook:

  • BNP Paribas Nets Ex-Credit Suisse NRI Banker

    BNP Paribas Nets Ex-Credit Suisse NRI Banker

    BNP Paribas Wealth Management has hired an ex-Credit Suisse banker to oversee the non-resident Indian market.

    Aditya Chauhan will join BNP Paribas Wealth Management as a market head for non-resident Indians (NRI), sources said, and he is expected to be accompanied by a team of bankers. Based in Singapore, Chauhan will oversee all NRI bankers in the city-state and Hong Kong.

    Chauhan was most recently working for Credit Suisse where he was also an NRI banker that reportedly began coverage of the Sri Lanka market in 2018 with a team of relationship managers. A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment.

    In 2021, BNP Paribas Wealth Management has made a number of senior private banking hires in Asia.

    In addition to Chauhan, it added longtime Citi banker Kevin King as its China market head in March and ex-Standard Chartered banker Michael Yong-Haron as its Hong Kong CEO earlier this year.

    Lees ook:

  • Citi Appoints Senior China Corporate Banker

    Citi Appoints Senior China Corporate Banker

    Citi appoints a senior corporate banker for China, amid growing expansion in the mainland market.

    Luke Lu has been named head of corporates coverage for China, reporting to Citibank China CEO Christine Lam and APAC head of corporate banking Kaleem Rizvi.

    A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the new appointment.

    Lu has 20 years of banking experience and was most recently head of Citi Commercial Bank in China after rejoining the American lender in 2019. Previously, he was with MUFG Bank China where he was the head of its global corporate bank for two years.

    Lu’s appointment occurs in the midst of increasing growth at Citi’s corporate banking unit in China.

    According to the note, Citi is serving an increasing number of companies in the mainland market and last year alone, it raised over $30 billion for Chinese clients in global capital markets across debt and equity.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • UBS Investment Bank Enjoys Trading in Driving Seat

    UBS Investment Bank Enjoys Trading in Driving Seat

    The exit of Piero Novelli from UBS leaves its investment bank without its weightiest sponsor of deals for the super-rich. The trading business was and remains elementary within the big bank.

    When the 55-year-old Italian dealmaker leaves at the end of next month, he leaves an investment bank that boomed against the backdrop of the pandemic: the unit pre-tax more than tripled last year, thanks to buzzing trading.

    It managed to reduce its cost-income ratio to below 71 percent – unheard of efficiency – and hit a return on equity of nearly 20 percent. The UBS unit also loaded up on risk, adding another $13.2 billion in risk-weighted assets, but dramatically improved the return on them from 8.2 percent to ten percent.

    UBS’ investment bank is in fine fettle because of global markets, the purview of co-head Rob Karofsky. The trading arm – which encompasses equities, debt, foreign exchange, and interest rate products – has posted nearly three times the revenue of the advisory arm overseen by Novelli every year since the duo took over in 2018.

    The relation underscores that the balance of power lies with Karofsky, who joined UBS as head of equities globally in 2014 from Alliance Bernstein, where he held the same role. The 53-year-old American picked up the nickname Killer Karofsky at Morgan Stanley, where he worked until 2005 before heading for Deutsche Bank.

    The market turmoil sparked by Covid-19 gave UBS’ investment bank a timely lift last year: in 2019, the unit foundered in the wake of Andrea Orcel’s absence – reportedly in large part because the notoriously intense Italian banker «had his hands around 10,000 throats», as one UBS banker put it to the Financial Times.

    Novelli was also the bridgehead of an effort begun in 2019 to build a bridge between other super-wealthy private banking clients and the funding needs of private firms. Private capital markets» was rolled out last year with global as well as regional teams under Ros L’Esperance and Javier Oficialdegui, UBS’ global banking co-heads.

    Alan Felder runs a U.S.-based team, Isabelle Toledano-Koutsouris is responsible for Europe, while Nicolo Magni manages Asia-Pacific. The unit doesn’t disclose any metrics, or even examples of deals as Credit Suisse does for an international sales and trading push under Yves-Alain Sommerhalder.

    A UBS spokesman said only the bank was pleased with the private capital market progress. Credit Suisse also bulked out its efforts, under banker Christian Meissner and long-time executive Bab

    Lees ook:

  • Investment Banker Bonuses Cut in Asia

    Investment Banker Bonuses Cut in Asia

    Investment bankers at global banks in Asia will see lower bonuses this year due to a slump in dealmaking in the region.

    The bonus pool at UBS’ investment banking unit is 14 percent lower than 2019 for Asia ex-Japan, and 9 percent lower at Morgan Stanley.

    At Citi the decline was lower, at 6 percent, while Goldman Sachs kept overall bonuses flat, the report, which cited unnamed sources, said.-

    According to the publication, slowing economic growth in China, which reached a 30-year low in 2019, was partly behind the slump in dealmaking, with the value of mergers falling 9 percent. Fee compression was also cited as a factor behind the lower bonuses.

    UBS, which is undergoing a global revamp of its business, took a hit as it was suspended from sponsoring IPOs in Hong Kong. The ban was lifted two months early in January.

    Following a record year in 2018, Morgan Stanley’s overall investment banking revenue declined about 12 percent, and its Asia bonus pool was cut after lower merger and acquisition fees, a source said.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Asian Private Banking Abuzz with UBS China Fiasco

    Asian Private Banking Abuzz with UBS China Fiasco

    Onshore China, and its rapidly growing billionaire population, is a target for most private banks in the region. UBS has arguably the best-established franchise in the competitive onshore market. Chinese regulators require foreign banks such as UBS to obtain licenses in each jurisdiction that they operate. UBS opened branches in both Beijing in 2014 and Shanghai in 2016 offices, amidst much fanfare and presumably at great cost.

    Due for Interview Next Week

    A female relationship manager at Switzerland’s biggest bank this week was detained at the airport in Beijing, according to a source familiar with the matter. The authorities allegedly held the UBS banker on grounds of illegally soliciting business, the source told.

    The relationship manager may have violated stringent Chinese onshore regulations, which declare illegal the marketing and sale of offshore financial products.

    The banker will be interviewed by Chinese authorities next week, according to information obtained. She has however received back her passport, which had been confiscated. The reasons for her detention remain unclear.

    Strong Message

    The Swiss bank will not comment on the detention of one of its bankers, but said that it had very stringent rules set for its bankers. «This is a strong message from the regulator that it will not tolerate fly in banking,» says one senior banker at another Swiss finance firm. The practice of «flying in» bankers, ostensibly for legitimate onshore reasons ranging from client meetings to golf trips – was one favored by many banks in capital controlled markets such as Taiwan and India.

    It was, however, abandoned as banks – Swiss wealth managers in particular – ran into trouble with regulators in these onshore jurisdictions.

    «Breached Lines»

    «Chilling» is how another senior manager at a European bank described the developments. «The fact that it is a UBS banker – and not one at a smaller shop – is indicative of how determined the regulator is,» he explains.

    A head of Taiwan business at another private bank says, «the line continues to be breached several times in onshore markets,» but it is likely there will be systemic reluctance among both bankers and their banks after the latest incidence.

    Hands-Off in China

    What this means for banks that have made deep investments in the China onshore market and are under considerable pressure to «move out of investment phase» is unknown. For the savvier ones, this is likely to be an inflection point.

    «It is certainly hands-off China for the moment and we will implement no-fly restrictions in any case where it is ambiguous whether the purpose of the visit is strictly onshore,» confirms the senior manager.

    Lees ook: