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Tag: Banking

  • UBS Adds Private Banking Trio for Southeast Asia

    UBS Adds Private Banking Trio for Southeast Asia

    UBS’ global wealth arm has expanded its coverage of Southeast Asian high net worth individuals with the appointment of three new private bankers.

    Maria Lourdes Kristen Quintos joins UBS as a senior client advisor focusing on ultra-high net worth (UHNW) clients, according to an internal memo.

    Quintos has over 35 years of banking experience, most recently at Maybank ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners Inc. where she was its president and chief executive officer. Previously, she was also a chief representative at Bank of Singapore in Manila serving high net worth (HNW) clients, institutions and pension funds.

    In addition, Nicolo Nicandro and Natalie Boey have also joined UBS as client advisors focusing on HNW and UHNW clients in the Philippines.

    Nicandro was previously a senior associate and investment counselor at Bank of Singapore in Manilla where he advised and managed global multi-asset portfolios for private clients. Boey held a similar role at Citi where she spent nearly 15 years, including 10 years of focus on Philippines market coverage.

    The three new additions join the bank’s global wealth management APAC Thailand and Philippines business sector.

    A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the contents of the memo.

  • Hong Kong Must Reopen to Remain a Financial Hub

    Hong Kong Must Reopen to Remain a Financial Hub

    Outgoing city chief executive Carrie Lam makes frank comments to CNBC before her departure at the end of the month.

    Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive Carrie Lam, who has faced a difficult, tempestuous five-year term that included the 2019 pro-democratic protests, the subsequent introduction of the city’s National Security Law, and the Covid-19 pandemic, appeared to be more forcefully speaking her mind than had previously been the case in an interview with CNBC on Friday.

    She apparently indicated to viewers that the city could not continue to function as a financial hub if the current border controls remain in place, as this has made people impatient.

    The border control measures have really made people very impatient. Of course, they’ve undermined Hong Kong’s status as a hub. If you cannot travel freely to other places and into the mainland, how could you be a hub?

    Despite recent steps to relax some pandemic restrictions, Hong Kong continues to require a 7-day quarantine for any foreign arrivals. It also continues to employ extensive contact tracing and testing requirements city-wide, among other measures.

    Lam discussed the departure of foreigners and expatriates, saying that this was not due to the National Security Law, but the extent and duration of the strict pandemic controls. Other topics that were discussed included the one country, two systems governing principle in Hong Kong, which she believed had been mischaracterized by overseas media.

    I sometimes find it very disturbing that a lot of Western media try to portray Hong Kong as just another Chinese city and have no proper recognition or understanding of one country, two systems, Carrie Lam said.

    She maintained that freedom of expression, assembly and media continued to be upheld in the city.

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  • A German Bank Wants its Customers to go Cashless

    A German Bank Wants its Customers to go Cashless

    In a country where cash has been king for decades, Deutsche Bank will stop allowing customers to pick up cash at its counters.

    There is a German adage that Geld Stinkt Nicht, which translates into money doesn’t stink, and helps to explain the country’s strong, and perhaps a stereotypical, preference for cash over the years. Deutsche Bank is seeking to change that.

    In tapping into another German trait, that of frugality, Lars Stoy, who heads domestic retail banking operations of Germany’s largest commercial bank said at an investor conference that «In the future, I don’t want to offer cash in the branches anymore, because holding cash incurs costs.

    While not specifying a timeline for the changes, Stoy said that cash would only be offered in a few large centers and that generally, he wants to further reduce the number of branches in Germany.

    The main task of the branch is sales along with “advising customers on investments, mortgages, to a certain extent on consumer loans and insurance. Once that is the case, then the branches will be profitable again, Stoy said.

    Moreover, the plans are in response to changes in customer behavior, with the trend toward cashless payments significantly increasing, while at the same time demand for personal advice is also on the rise, Stoy said.

    In terms of cash supply, Deutsche Bank will maintain a nationwide network of ATMs adding that money can also be withdrawn at supermarkets or gas stations.

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  • Deutsche Bank Raided Over Alleged Greenwashing

    Deutsche Bank Raided Over Alleged Greenwashing

    German prosecutors raided the offices of asset manager DWS and its controlling shareholder Deutsche Bank over allegations of «greenwashing,» according to media reports.

    Deutsche Bank and its around 80 percent-owned asset manager DWS were raided over allegations DWS misled investors about how green the investments marketed as green or greener really were, the reports said.

    The move may send shivers down the spine of investors globally as green investments, or investments marketed as using environmental, social and governance (ESG), indicators have surged in popularity. In early 2021, global ESG assets were projected to top US$53 trillion by 2025, or more than a third of the projected total of assets under management of US$140.5 trillion in that timeframe.

    The German authorities said they were responding to news reports and a whistle-blower’s allegations about DWS’ marketing tactics greenwashing its offerings, adding sufficient factual evidence has emerged about how little ESG factors were allegedly used to determine investments.

    DWS and Deutsche Bank have previously said they would cooperate with authorities, and DWS repeated its denial of the allegations. Deutsche Bank said the raid was directed at unknown people in connection with the DWS allegations.

    DWS has stopped using the label ESG integrated, in a move that came after DWS’ former sustainability head, Desiree Fixler, alleged the label didn’t result in meaningful moves by fund managers. Fixler was fired last year, and lost her unfair dismissal case in Frankfurt in January.

    Both U.S. and German regulators had begun investigations in 2021 into allegations from Fixler over potential greenwashing, «Reuters» said, noting both U.S. and EU regulators are working to create rules to define greenwashing.

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  • UBS to Launch Banking App in Singapore

    UBS to Launch Banking App in Singapore

    UBS will soon be launching a new app in Singapore, CEO Ralph Hamers announced. UBS CEO Ralph Hamers announced that the world’s largest wealth manager will launch its Circle One digital product in Singapore on Tuesday. If successful, the new app which is designed to connect investors with ideas in a global ecosystem could be used in other markets.

    The offering is the latest digital effort from UBS, having launched its Key4 initiative last week.

    Hamers also commented on the financial markets during the interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, noting investors are inclined to stay at the moment, given the market volatility. While clients are not necessarily exiting the market, they’re not exactly investing either, noting they are more or less sidelined and waiting for things to clear up, he said.

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  • UBS Data Thief Headed for Prison

    UBS Data Thief Headed for Prison

    An appeal by a former UBS banker who was convicted in absentia of espionage was denied by Switzerland’s highest court.

    The banker, only known as Rene S. was convicted of selling the data of wealth clients to tax authorities in Germany, and sentenced to 40 months in prison and fines and court costs of over 125,000 Swiss francs.

    In 2020, the verdict was upheld by an appeals court, and was again by the Swiss Federal Court, dismissing an argument that the lower appeals court did not correctly conduct the proceedings.

    At the heart of the case was the accusation that Rene S. pocketed 1.1 million euros ($1.14 million) from the sale of the documents and moved to a small town in Germany near the Swiss border.

    Swiss banks have paid billions in settlements related to charges they made it possible to wealthy foreigners to hide their wealth.

    Earlier this week, an attempt to change Swiss banking secrecy laws to exempt whistleblowers and journalists was blocked by lawmakers

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  • UBS Appears to be Mapping out a Digital Roadmap

    UBS Appears to be Mapping out a Digital Roadmap

    Many banks are making digital products an essential part of their offerings. It looks like UBS is joining the fray. UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank as registered several new brand names in the Swiss trademark register.

    Among the new brands are UBS Key4 banking, UBS Key4 wealth, and UBS Key4 business, which have been registered and are now legally protected product names of the bank.

    To date, however, Key4 is only the name of the online portal by which UBS has been selling its own and third-party mortgage loans since 2020. According to the report, the registrations of the new trademarks could indicate UBS is in the process of building additional brands for a future digital business.

    UBS rival Credit Suisse launched a digital product in 2020 and trades under the name CSX.

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  • Google Joins Swiss Open Banking Initiative

    Google Joins Swiss Open Banking Initiative

    Switzerland’s Openwealth initiative gains momentum as one of the world’s largest cloud providers becomes a member.

    Google Cloud becomes the latest addition to the Openwealth Association, joining as an API service provider, the organization announced on Thursday.

    The application programming interface (API) allows third-party providers to dock with IT platforms, in this case, banks and wealth managers. As a leading cloud provider, Google Cloud will allow Openwealth to disseminate the API standard globally.

    Apigee, Google’s API management platform, is one of the most widely used open API publishing software solutions in the world, used by many OpenWealth members, it said.

    The Swiss industry initiative aims to standardize the interfaces of a wide range of institutions and simplify data exchange between custodian banks and portfolio management system providers and custodian banks themselves.

    Google joins UBS, Credit Suisse, Julius Baer, ZKB, and SIX, among others, in the industry initiative.

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  • No Back to the Office at UBS

    No Back to the Office at UBS

    The transition to a new working culture at UBS is well underway as many employees adopt agile working methods, while others gain total freedom.

    Around 10,000 – or one in ten – employees at Switzerland’s largest bank now work according to agile working methods, the bank said in its earnings release Tuesday.

    Agile, which is often used in software development where product cycles are short and requirements for a solution can change quickly, has the objective of making teams more efficient and flexible. It is central to CEO Ralph Hamers’ grand plan to foster a culture of engineers at UBS.

    Flexibility is also a priority when it comes to the bank’s working arrangements: In the USA, the bank is offering certain employees the possibility to work completely from their home office, while continuing to support hybrid working methods in other locations.

    In Swiss banking, a 40 to 60 percent rule for remote working could become the new standard, and one adopted by Credit Suisse last month.

  • UBS Weathers First Quarter Headwinds

    UBS Weathers First Quarter Headwinds

    Switzerland’s largest bank UBS has weathered multiple first-quarter headwinds, turning its best first-quarter net profit in over a decade. UBS reported Tuesday a net profit of $2.1 billion in the first quarter, exceeding expectations, showing the bank was able to steer a course through several challenges in the first quarter and posted its best first-quarter results since 2007.

    The result improved on the $1.3 billion reported for the fourth quarter of last year and was better than the $1.8 billion booked during the first three months of 2021.

    Switzerland’s largest bank accomplished this in the face of the Ukraine war, inflation showing no signs of abating anytime soon, and central banks that are tightening the loose-money spigots. «Our strong results today speak to our ability to accomplish our objectives regardless of the backdrop,» said UBS CEO Ralph Hamers.

    UBS said it reduced its Russia exposure early and actively and had a direct country exposure of $400 million as of March 31 of 2022. It expects a firm-wide P&L negative impact of $100 million.

    The bank said it is not conducting any new business in Russia or with Russia-domiciled clients. However, it will continue to monitor settlement risk on certain transactions with Russian bank and non-bank counter parties, which might result in unexpected increases in exposures.

    Pre-tax profit was $2.7 billion, improving by one billion dollars from the fourth quarter result of $1.7 and bettering the comparative year-ago quarter of $2.3 billion.

    Earnings per share were $0.61 in the first quarter, up from $0.38 in the fourth quarter of last year and higher than the $0.49 reported during the first quarter of 2021, the results showed.

    Global wealth management (GWM) booked a pre-tax profit of $1.3 billion, with the unit reporting net new fee-generating assets of $19 billion in the first quarter compared to 36.2 billion in the same year-ago quarter. Total fee-generating assets were $3.1 trillion As of the first quarter of last year, the GWM unit no longer reports net new money every quarter, and will only disclose the figure in its annual report.

    Earlier this month, finews.com reported that 2021 was a bumper year for Swiss banks attracting new money inflows. But this year, wealth and asset managers are facing geopolitical and economic uncertainty resulting from the ongoing war in Ukraine and inflation showing no sign of abating anytime soon. Add to the mix central banks that are starting to close the taps of easy money flowing into financial markets.

    The investment bank’s division’s 126 percent pre-tax profit growth from the comparative quarter was mainly attributable to Archegos-related losses in the same quarter last year. Excluding that loss, revenues increased by 4 percent, or just over $100 million, primarily from increased revenues in equity derivatives, rates, and foreign exchange.

    While the path of economic growth has become much more uncertain, UBS expects growth in economic activity to continue, but increased uncertainty could continue to affect client activity levels and asset prices. However, even as central banks are tightening policy to arrest rising inflation, the banks said that rising interest rates, notably the US dollar, are expected to lead to higher net interest income.

  • UBS Currently Sees Little Hope for Credit Suisse

    UBS Currently Sees Little Hope for Credit Suisse

    Switzerland’s two major banks are usually cautious about rating each other’s shares. But right now, UBS sees little potential in its rival. Credit Suisse’s share continued to lose value and they are now trading just above 7 Swiss francs ($7.3) after it made a warning earlier this week that it would report a first-quarter loss. There is little to suggest that the stock will recover in the foreseeable future, especially after CEO Thomas Gottstein spoke of 2022 as a transition year. Now, many bank analysts seem to be chiming in with the same view.

    British investment bank Barclays lowered its price target for Credit Suisse shares from 7.50 francs to 7.00 francs on Thursday, with their banking specialist, Amit Goel, rating the stock as underweight, which ultimately can be interpreted as a recommendation to sell.

    UBS banking analyst Daniele Brupbacher was a little less harsh on his employers’ rival, giving Credit Suisse shares a twelve-month price target of CHF 7.40 and rating the stock as neutral earlier this week. So while not advising to sell, he is advising against buying it even at such a low price.

    When the two major Swiss banks rate each other, they usually do so rather cautiously. Although they are ultimately competitors, they also play a decisive role in shaping the Swiss financial center. And no one is interested in having just one big bank in the future.

    In an interview earlier this year, UBS CEO Ralph Hamers said that it’s never a good thing when a competitor has problems because the reputation of all banks suffers as a result.

    For decades, the business models of UBS and CS were quite similar, but have diverged over the past decade or so. UBS saw no need to repaint, merely touching up its success model, as former UBS Chairman Axel Weber liked to say. Credit Suisse has been laboring for years to make a new start without success, and scandal after scandal has beleaguered the bank.

    This is reflected in the performance of Credit Suisse’s share price and the corresponding ratings of UBS. The last time UBS banking analyst Brupbacher gave his rival shares a buy rating was in April of last year. At that time, the stock was trading at 9.73 francs, and UBS had formulated a price target of 10.80 francs.

    In December 2021, UBS downgraded Credit Suisse shares to neutral, mainly due to the ongoing turbulence surrounding the Greensill funds and the Archegos hedge fund, but also because then Chairman António Horta-Osório had not succeeded in giving the bank a new, credible strategy. UBS’s target price for Credit Suisse’s shares was 9.30 Swiss francs, cut again in February to 8.50 francs and now to 7.50.

    It is quite clear. From now on, there will definitely be one financial center – two business models – and the two competitors will open up a new capital in Swiss banking history. While UBS pulls away, Credit Suisse will be hard-pressed to avoid announcing personnel changes when it presents its quarterly figures next Wednesday. That is the only real way it can credibly hold out the prospect of a new start.

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  • TPBank eyes 36-percent hike in profits

    TPBank eyes 36-percent hike in profits

    Private lender TPBank expects its pre-tax profits to top VND8.2 trillion ($358 million) this year, up 36 percent from 2021.

    It also targets a 20 percent increase in assets to VND350 trillion.

    The bank plans a rights issue of 527 million shares this year to raise VND5.3 trillion and increase its charter capital to VND21 trillion.

    VnDirect Securities has forecast 25 percent growth for TPBank this year, higher than the 20 percent expected for the sector.

    BaoViet Securities has forecast its compounded annual growth rate to top 31.4 percent in 2020-22 and return on average equity (ROAE) in the period of 24.8 percent.

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  • Standard Chartered sees Vietnam inflation higher than central bank forecast

    Standard Chartered sees Vietnam inflation higher than central bank forecast

    Standard Chartered Bank expects inflation of 4.2 percent this year, slightly higher than the central bank forecast, driven by the geopolitical situation and higher commodity prices.

    “Over the medium term, demand-push inflationary factors are likely to kick in as the economy recovers,” the lender said in a note, adding that supply-side factors pose upside risks to inflation, particularly given the ongoing geopolitical situation.

    It forecasts a further increase in the rate next year to 5.5 percent.

    The State Bank of Vietnam targets inflation of not more than 4 percent this year.

    Prices rose by 1.8 percent last year, the lowest rate in six years.

    The Asian Development Bank this month forecast Vietnam’s inflation to hit 3.8 percent this year and 4 percent next year, pointing to the instability in global oil prices.

    Standard Chartered was confident about Vietnam’s growth potential, forecasting GDP growth of 6.7 percent this year (2.6 percent last year), saying the recent bounce in economic indicators have become more broad-based.

    Tim Leelahaphan, the bank’s economist for Thailand and Vietnam, said: “The government lifted its quarantine requirement for international arrivals in mid-March. We think the reopening of tourism, which accounts for close to 10 percent of GDP, is the key development to watch in the second quarter after a two-year closure.”

    Vietnam remains a manufacturing hub and a key link in the global supply chain despite geopolitical and pandemic-related challenges, the bank said.

    FDI started recovering this year after contracting last year, and the bank expects this to continue, particularly in sectors such as manufacturing, electricity and gas,.

    Several major global tech companies have shifted (or plan to shift) production to Vietnam from China in recent years to diversify their supply chains, Leelahaphan added.

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  • Game Your Way to a Job at Julius Baer

    Game Your Way to a Job at Julius Baer

    The Swiss bank is launching its own video game to attract future tech talent. In an effort to attract future tech talent, Swiss bank Julius Baer is offering its own game on the video game platform Roblox where candidates can take the Be Baer Challenge in the metaverse, the bank announced Monday.

    How many times must children have heard their parents admonish get off of the computer and go play outside, or do your homework and stop playing games?

    Now they can play and look for a job.

    The Julius Baer Challenge was launched on April 11 and requires the users to employ logical and analytical thinking, creativity, and speed in a gaming environment. Players can create their own avatar which can roam around the bank’s virtual headquarters in Zurich in 3D. The challenge has four different levels where prizes can be won, and a showroom that informs players about jobs and benefits at the bank.

    We are thrilled to have been able to implement this unconventional approach to attract tech talent. We wanted to bring a ‘Super Mario’ aspect to the banking world. Gaming requires curiosity, agility, and a drive to advance to the next level. These skills are highly sought after in a banking environment said Guido Ruoss, global head of human resources at the bank.

    The Be Baer Challenge was designed in partnership with E-Sports and gaming experts aimed at creating an inspiring location in the Roblox metaverse. Founded in 2004, Roblox is a global gaming platform with 55 million daily active users with video games are available on PCs, Xbox, and cell phones. There are currently 9.6 million developers on the platform.

    Maybe now, kids will be hearing from their parents «what are you doing outside? Come in and get on the computer and look for a job!»

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  • UBS Sets Up Diversity Focused Investment Team

    UBS Sets Up Diversity Focused Investment Team

    UBS has created a new unit dedicated to diversity and inclusion. Switzerland’s largest bank has created a new wealth management unit aimed at mobilizing client funds to offer investments that promote equality and expand outcomes for underrepresented or marginalized groups, according to a report.

    Karen Sunderam will lead the group from New York. According to her LinkedIn profile, she has been with UBS for nearly five years and has been the head of inclusive investing solutions since May last year.

    By responding to client requests for investment options that reflect personal values and are aimed at social good, UBS will offer clients opportunities to channel their money to firms at least partly owned by minorities. This also includes products led by portfolio managers who self-identify as racial or ethnic minorities, women, veterans, disabled and LGBTQ, «Bloomberg» reported.

    Under CEO Ralph Hamers, UBS has dedicated itself to the «purpose» of reinventing investing and connecting people for a better world. Head of sustainability Michael Baldinger was tasked in May 2021 with weaving these threads across the group and advancing diversity.