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Tag: Finance

  • StanChart Nabs HSBC Private Banker

    StanChart Nabs HSBC Private Banker

    Standard Chartered Private Bank has expanded its Southeast Asia unit with the addition of a relationship manager from rival HSBC.

    Nipud Sud joins Standard Chartered Private Bank as an executive director and relationship manager, according to a note, effective August 2.

    Based in Singapore, Sud reports to senior client partner Suresh Nair who joined the bank in January this year and reports to private banking team lead of Singapore and Malaysia Adeline Chow.

    Sud has 18 years of banking experience, including ten in private banking with Citi, J.P. Morgan and, most recently, HSBC covering ASEAN and Hong Kong clients.

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  • StanChart Profits Rise from Improved Loan Impairments

    StanChart Profits Rise from Improved Loan Impairments

    Pre-tax profit at Standard Chartered rose in the first half and beat analyst estimates, resulting in the resumption of interim dividend payments.

    Standard Chartered registered $2.68 billion in pre-tax profit, according to its latest first-half results, marking a 37 percent increase compared to $1.95 billion in the same period last year.

    The bank’s $2.55 billion in statutory pre-tax profit beat its compailed average analyst estimate of $2.23 billion.

    Despite lower income (5 percent decrease) and higher operating expenses, Standard Chartered still saw profits rise due to improved loan impairments fuelled by the economic recovery.

    The bank posted a net release of $47 million in credit impairments – including a net release of $67 million in the second quarter – marking a $1.61 billion decrease year-on-year.

    The Asia-focused British lender also announced the resumption of interim dividend payments of $94 million – or 3 cents per share – alongside a $250 million share buyback.

    I am encouraged by our positive performance in the first half of 2021 despite an uneven recovery from Covid-19,» said Standard Chartered group chief executive Bill Winters.

    We are more confident in achieving our return on tangible equity targets and we are pleased to announce today an additional share buy-back program together with the resumption of our interim dividend payment.

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  • Citi Posts All-Time High in APAC Net New Assets

    Citi Posts All-Time High in APAC Net New Assets

    Citi’s wealth management business in Asia Pacific registered a record-high in net new assets during the first half.

    Citi’s newly merged wealth management unit – Citi Global Wealth (CGW) – attracted nearly $15 billion in net new money across Asia Pacific, according to a statement, mostly from its wealth hubs in Hong Kong, Singapore, London and UAE.

    This included $8 billion from the second quarter with assets under management growing 21 percent year-on-year.

    Citi posted $6.19 billion of net income in the second quarter – a nearly six-fold increase compared to the same period last year.

    Asset growth was supported by ongoing expansion at CGW which includes plans to add an extra 2,300 staff – including 1,100 relationship managers and private bankers – in order to add $150 billion in total client assets by 2025.

    Year-to-date, the American bank has already added «several hundred wealth professionals» in APAC, the statement added.

    «We are capturing market share as Asian clients increasingly require portfolio advice, design and allocation geared toward diversification of asset types and geographic exposures,» said Citi’s APAC chief executive Peter Babej. «As the world’s most global bank, with broad-based expertise across investment products, we are strongly positioned and fully committed to serving these needs.»

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  • Bank of China to Open Geneva Branch

    Bank of China to Open Geneva Branch

    Bank of China, the country’s most globalized bank, is giving Geneva a second chance and opening a branch there again, but this time the focus will be different.

    Bank of China Geneva Branch was registered on the Commercial Register on June 15 and listed as an authorized bank by Swiss financial regulator Finma on July 9, the bank said in a press release Monday.

    Bank of China is the most globalized and integrated Chinese bank. The bank is ranked among the «Fortune Global 500» for 31 consecutive years and among the global systemically important banks for nine consecutive years. Its overseas service network covers 62 countries and regions, the press release said.

    It added that with the establishment of its bank in Switzerland, the Bank of China would work to build a bridge for Sino-Swiss trade and investment, providing comprehensive trade finance products and commodity trade financial services to Swiss enterprises doing business with China and Chinese enterprises in Switzerland.

    The bank previously opened a branch in Geneva in 2008 and intended to operate a classic wealth management model. It was unsuccessful and closed eight years ago, with the business sold to Julius Bär. The new branch’s focus, by contrast, will be on corporate clients. Bank of China employs around 300,000 people globally.

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  • DBS Appoints Global Head of Transactions Services

    DBS Appoints Global Head of Transactions Services

    DBS has appointed a group head of global transaction services, succeeding John Laurens who will be retiring.

    Lim Soon Chong has been named to the role, according to a statement, effective August 1 this year.

    Laurens, who first joined DBS in 2014, will remain as a senior adviser to support the transition until December 31.

    Lim is currently group head of investment products and advisory for DBS’ consumer banking and wealth management unit as well as group head of product management for global transactions services. Ex-group head of trade product management and 20-year banking veteran Sriram Muthukrishnan will take over Lim’s latter role.

    Lim joined DBS in 2006 and has taken on various senior roles across the bank’s consumer, wealth, corporate treasury, and risk management divisions. He will maintain his role as head of digital for DBS’ institutional banking group.

    We remain committed to efforts to rotate our senior leaders around different functions and markets to hone their business acumen and technical skill sets to ensure they are well equipped to navigate the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow, Lim said.

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  • Nearly Half of Singaporeans Own Cryptocurrency

    Nearly Half of Singaporeans Own Cryptocurrency

    Despite market volatility and regulatory pressures, the outlook for crypto adoption remains positive especially in Singapore where nearly half of its residents own the digital asset class, according to a survey.

    43 percent of Singaporeans own cryptocurrency, according to a survey by Independent Reserve, a digital set exchange with operations in the city-state since 2020. And adoption is expected to continue to rise with 46 percent of respondents plan to buy crypto in the next 12 months.

    Naturally, awareness has been high in Singapore with 93 percent claiming they have knowledge of cryptocurrencies and 90 percent claiming they heard of bitcoin.

    Unsurprisingly, younger individuals have led adoption rates at 66 percent for those aged 26 to 45 compared to 31 percent cumulatively for all other age groups.

    The same age group was also twice as likely to buy crypto in the next 12 months at 61 percent.

    Crypto adoption is expected to increase in Singapore with 59 percent of Singaporeans believing it will reach mass-scale adoption and 70 percent for those under the age of 45.

    The price outlook is also positive with half of the respondents expecting bitcoin’s value to rise to S$50,000 by 2030. 13 percent of those under 45 forecast bitcoin’s price to reach S$250,000 by the same year. The data is based on a survey of 1,000 Singaporeans conducted by Independent Reserve.

    Independent Reserve also launched its inaugural Cryptocurrency Index for Singapore and scored it at 63 out of 100 using criteria based on awareness, adoption, trust and confidence.

    With digital currency gaining momentum worldwide, Singapore continues to emerge as a key hub in Asia due to its robust and well-regulated financial markets infrastructure and openness to new technologies,» said Independent Reserve CEO Adrian Przelozny.

    The strong awareness and adoption of crypto among Singaporeans in the survey findings are probably a natural reflection of the country’s progressiveness and commitment to preparing for the future.

  • UBS and Credit Suisse’s Intertwined Destinies

    UBS and Credit Suisse’s Intertwined Destinies

    It would be premature to draw any conclusions from the large gap that has opened up between UBS and Credit Suisse. Doing so has often proved wrong in the past.

    Credit Suisse will publish second-quarter results this Thursday. It won’t be easy for the bank to exceed UBS’s strong showing, particularly given it still faces enormous problems from the Greensill Capital and Archegos Capital Management losses. Even so, it will be interesting to see how Credit Suisse chief executive Thomas Gottstein takes advantage of the very positive current environment in finance.

    About thirty years ago it wasn’t unusual for both the major banks to coordinate the release of their results. It was a type of good old-fashioned Swiss consensus. One really did want to avoid large discrepancies if possible. The profits of the major banks mirrored each other. And as part of all that, each would advise their (domestic) competitors how much-hidden reserves were being used.

    At the start of the 1990s, increased competition came into play. The Swiss banking cartel was dissolved as banking was liberalized globally and competition law would ban any agreement like that now. In any case, it would be a gargantuan task to balance out the performance between the two this quarter given the disparity between them is so large.

    On one side you have Credit Suisse which keeps getting buffeted by turbulence since former chief executive Tidjane Thiam left. On the other, you have a UBS performing better than it has in years, as the numbers last week clearly show. In short, it would be extremely hard to compare them side by side now.

    But it would be premature to draw conclusions from the conditions at each bank. And any desire to see it last for a prolonged length of time also misses the point.

    Often, such conclusions have turned out to be wrong. UBS and Credit Suisse have closely intertwined destinies and they seem to change positions almost with the regularity of a Swiss watch. One is on top for a while only to then be replaced by the other for another while. History shows that pattern repeating itself over and over.

    Exactly because both banks are so important for Swiss finance, and because their ability to innovate is still pre-dominant, there is little use painting a dire picture of their future or expressing any kind of schadenfreude when one of them is in trouble. The recent events at Credit Suisse have just – again – shown what a lack of responsibility at all levels of a bank can do together with any reasoned, long-term understanding of the banking profession.

    At the end of the day, UBS and Credit Suisse have a long-term responsibility to follow the fundamental rules and laws of the banking business for the Swiss economy and the country’s prosperity in a way that allows them to exercise their strengths, particularly in an international context.

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  • Singapore Wealth Fund Posts Best Performance Since 2015

    Singapore Wealth Fund Posts Best Performance Since 2015

    Strong asset performance amid the pandemic and exits through initial public offerings by portfolio companies boosted the fund’s performance.

    GIC, whose investment performance is measured using a rolling 20-year real rate of return, posted an annualized USD nominal rate of return of 6.8 percent for the period that ended 31 March 2021, or 4.3 percent accounting for inflation, it said in the announcement. In 2015, it recorded a return of 4.9 percent.

    Asia excluding Japan took up 26 percent of GIC’s portfolio, up from 19 percent a year earlier, while emerging markets comprised 17 percent, up from 15 percent. At the same time, its Japan exposure fell to 8 percent, from 13 percent the year before, according to its annual report. Its largest region by exposure continued to be the U.S., at 34 percent. The fund manages in excess of $100 billion in assets, though exact figures are not available.

    GIC said it is cautious about the macro outlook in the long term, given rising inflation, elevated asset valuations, more fragile fundamentals in the global economy and less policy room.

    Chow Kiat, GIC chief executive officer, said GIC is positive on the micro prospects, given new areas of growth that are driven by increasing emphasis on sustainability, accelerating technological transformation, and growing needs for businesses to reconfigure their supply chain.

    Earlier this year, GIC opened its 11th office globally in Sydney, Australia, saying it would be seeking investment opportunities in the country.

    The fund has also been loading up on crypto assets of late. So far this year, GIC has taken stakes in U.S. based digital asset bank Anchorage; BC Group, the parent company of regulated crypto exchange OSL; and blockchain analysis company Chainalysis.

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  • UBS Plans to Up Pay for Junior Bankers and Directors

    UBS Plans to Up Pay for Junior Bankers and Directors

    UBS Group is reportedly planning to raise the salaries of global banking analysts, associates, and directors, marking the latest global bank to increase pay for talent.

    In their first year, analysts will earn about $100,000 annually, according to a «Reuters» report citing unnamed sources, followed by $105,000 in the second year and $110,000 in the third year.

    Associates will earn $175,000 to $225,000 and directors will make around $275,000.

    The salaries increases will come into effect from August 1, the report added.

    UBS is the latest global bank to increase salaries in order to attract and retain talent, particularly for non-senior positions.

    This follows similar moves by Wall Street banks to incentivize younger financial workers, particularly after first-year analysts at Goldman Sachs complained about a gruesome work-life of long hours and cutthroat deadlines in an internal survey leaked earlier this year.

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  • UBS Reports Strong Second Quarter Performance

    UBS Reports Strong Second Quarter Performance

    Swiss bank UBS reports second-quarter 2021 net profit attributable to shareholders of $2 billion, up 66 percent from a year earlier.

    Operating Income was up 21 percent while expenses rose 10 percent, helping the cost/income ratio to fall 4.1 percentage points year-on-year. The bank saw continued momentum in investment flows and volume growth in conjunction with favorable market conditions and investor sentiment, according to a media release on Tuesday.

    Invested assets in Global Wealth Management (GWM) and Asset Management rose 4.4 percent from the first quarter to $4.4 trillion, with GWM recorded $25 billion in net new fee-generating assets. The group reported $0.55 diluted earnings per share and a 14.5 percent CET1 ratio.

    UBS chief executive Ralph Hamers provided commented: «Momentum is on our side and our strategic choices and initiatives are paying off. And we are eager to make the most of our future.

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  • Big Gap Opens Up Between UBS, Credit Suisse

    Big Gap Opens Up Between UBS, Credit Suisse

    A big gap has opened up not only between UBS and Credit Suisse’s share prices but also between expectations for their second-quarter earnings.

    Ahead of the publication of their second-quarter results there really is no comparison. Looking at the share prices of the two big Swiss banks, UBS, whose results are due out on Tuesday, has risen just under 10 percent since the beginning of the year; and the bank is by no means one of the star performers on the Swiss stock exchange.

    However, you would have to look long and hard to find a worse performer than Credit Suisse, whose results are set to be published on July 29. Its shares have dropped 27 percent over the same period.

    Credit Suisse was in a world of pain in the second quarter. There is a great deal of uncertainty about its medium-term future after it lost billions in the collapse of Archegos Capital and no end in sight to the flood of employees heading for the exit at its investment bank. The lack of clarity about its prospects of recouping all the money from the Greensill funds is a source of disaffection to both staff and those asset management and private banking clients affected.

    Its battered reputation makes if difficult for Credit Suisse to acquire new clients and funds. The investigations into the Greensill and Archegos debacles by and the instruction from Swiss financial watchdog Finma only to do low-risk business are complicating its operations.

    Compared with UBS and the competition across the Atlantic, Credit Suisse is wrestling with both new and legacy problems at the worst possible moment.

    Credit Suisse is in danger of sliding into a completely different league to UBS. This is despite 800 million Swiss francs ($873 million) of UBS’ money going down the drain when Archegos collapsed.

    As far as banks with which Credit Suisse likes to compare itself such as Goldman Sachs or J.P. Morgan go, this has already happened.

    Last week, Goldman Sachs reported a second-quarter profit of $5.5 billion, J.P. Morgan made almost $12 billion. This was down to a U.S. economy going full steam ahead, strong results from their investment banks as well as mergers and acquisitions activity.

    The second-quarter forecasts for Credit Suisse are a tiny fraction of that.

    The consensus estimate is for a pre-tax profit of just over 840 million francs and a net profit of just over 330 million francs. The one-off effect of a further loss of 600 million francs due to Archegos is expected to weigh on the second-quarter numbers.

    Credit Suisse was still a money-making machine in the first quarter – apart from the debacles which cost billions – especially the investment bank, but the forecasts for the second quarter are very different indeed. Analysts are predicting revenues of around 1.75 billion francs offset by expenses of around 1.7 billion francs. The investment bank is expected to post a loss in the second quarter.

    Expectations for the wealth management business and client acquisition are also very subdued. A cash outflow is expected in Asset Management and an increase of around 3 billion francs across all units.

    The expectations for UBS are nothing to write home about but much better. The consensus forecast is for a second-quarter profit of just over $1.3 billion, significantly less than in the first quarter but still higher year on year.

    In its core business of Global Wealth Management, significantly less volatile markets hit client activity. Revenues will be significantly lower than in the first quarter. The focus will therefore be on implementing the cost-cutting program. The aim is to save $1 billion by 2023. However, there are likely to have been restructuring costs of around $300 million in the second quarter.

    The big gap between UBS and Credit Suisse not only lies in their share prices and results but also in the base from which they are starting, which has changed yet again since the spring.

    While UBS is pursuing a strategy for the future under its new CEO Ralph Hamers and has the means and capacity to invest in a technological transformation, Credit Suisse is dealing with its past. It has to resolve legacy issues that affect its corporate culture and, more specifically, the shortcomings in risk management.

    New Chairman António Horta-Osório has made it clear that this will take time and that no decisions on changes to the bank’s strategy are expected before the end of the year. In other words, UBS is building its future, something Credit Suisse can only dream of.

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  • StanChart Names Global Head of Transaction Banking FX

    StanChart Names Global Head of Transaction Banking FX

    Standard Chartered appoints its global head of transaction banking FX to further collaboration between transaction banking and markets.

    Jocelyn Tan has been named to the Singapore-based role, according to a report by efinancialcareers, which noted that she was an internal appointee though the role was advertised externally.

    Tan will be tasked with driving FX cross-selling by leveraging transaction banking flows across the corporate, commercial and institutional bank (CCIB).

    Tan has been with Standard Chartered since 2017 when she joined as an executive director for e-commerce sales. Previously, she spent over 10 years with Citi where she worked in Asian eFX sales.

  • HSBC Snags UBS Investment Management Specialist

    HSBC Snags UBS Investment Management Specialist

    He will lead HSBC’s investments and wealth solutions team in Asia, which covers global private banking and wealth and personal banking.

    HSBC has appointed Stefan Lecher as regional head of investments and wealth solutions (IWS), Asia Pacific, with effect from 3 October 2021, according to an announcement on Thursday. He will be based in Hong Kong, reporting to Lavanya Chari, global head IWS.

    Lecher joins from UBS, where he has held a number of senior roles in global wealth management and asset management over the past 17 years, most recently as APAC head CIO for global investment management.

    HSBC said the appointment is key to its Asia wealth strategy, which targets becoming a leading wealth manager in the next five years, with $3.5 billion in investment.

  • 16 banks to lower loan interests amid Covid-19

    16 banks to lower loan interests amid Covid-19

    Sixteen commercial banks have agreed to reduce interests on existing loans of Covid-hit businesses from now until the end of the year.

    The banks include Vietcombank, Vietinbank, BIDV, Agribank, Techcombank, MB, VPBank, TPBank and Sacombank.

    Lowering interests is difficult, but this is the time when banks need to share the burden with businesses, said Nguyen Quoc Hung, general secretary of Vietnam Banks Association, at a meeting Monday.

    Agribank is committed to lowering its interests by one percentage point on average, while MB will do so for at least one percentage point.

    Sacombank will seek shareholder permission as lowering the interest by one percentage point is equivalent to 40 percent of its profit target for the year. Some other banks will do the same.

    But not all businesses will be eligible for the reduction. Bank leaders said they would focus on companies truly hurt by the pandemic

    “Real estate companies with large profits, export firms or individuals borrowing money to buy cars should not be eligible for the reduction,” said Deputy Director of Techcombank Pham Quang Thang.

    He added companies that are essential to the economy with a large workforce should be eligible.

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  • Citi Private Bank Hires Global Market Head for China

    Citi Private Bank Hires Global Market Head for China

    Citi Private Bank has named a new global market head for China-based in Singapore.

    Lillian Liao joins Citi Private Bank as a managing director and global market head, China, sources said, reporting to North Asia head of private banking Rudolf Hitsch. A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment.

    Liao joins from Credit Suisse where she spent nearly 13 years last as a managing director and senior client partner.

    Citi Private Bank continues to bolster senior talent in the region following a reorganization that saw it merge retail, wealth management and private banking into a single unit – Citi Global Wealth (CGW). Citi Private Bank’s APAC head Steven Lo was named as co-head of the CGW unit in the region.

    Last month, the American private bank added ex-UBP wealth planner Faye Ong as head of the family office advisory, private capital group.

    And in May, it appointed 30-year Citi banker Lee Lung Nien as South Asia head of private banking.

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