Give way to the less heralded resources

Despite a bleak prognosis for European economies – and official figures, particularly in the UK, are no longer to be trusted – reasonable growth is still expected in China and India, where large French groups, BNP Paribas and Société Générale, plus global houses like GSAM are increasingly concentrating their resources. “The developing world for the first time in history will be the locomotive to pull forward the developed world,” said Richard Lambert, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, speaking to a select audience of distribution houses at this month’s FT Fund Links event. The biggest, most serious financial upheaval of the last 80 years will encourage financial institutions to explore new models of ownership and new forces in capitalism, in the shape of sovereign wealth funds. Just six months ago, Western banks were worried about being run by the People’s Republic of China. “Now we are saying: ‘Come over and give us a hand’,” said Mr Lambert. Facing fears Despite newspaper headlines of investment banks fearing for their futures, investors fearing even the safest money market funds and hedge funds fearing their time has finally come, there is much activity in wealth management, particularly in recruitment. There has clearly been some movement from the larger players, with their reputations scarred by investment banking write-downs, to the boutiques. But even the mega-groups are setting out strategies to attract new advisers and clients. (See cover story, pages 12-17.) Consultants are still talking about a shortage of well qualified private bankers. Many high achieving women, failed by the family-unfriendly culture and hours of investment banks, are choosing to further their careers in wealth management. Nominations for the inaugural PWM/Carte Blanche European Women in Wealth awards have included many successful female bankers and wealth managers, including Merrill Lynch’s Eva Castillo, Soha Nashaat of Barclays Wealth and Pictet’s Dina de Angelo. (See pages 5-7). Best solutions There has been little research done so far, but clearly a need exists for female private clients in many areas, particularly the Middle East, to have women managing their money. Yet Citigroup has announced that it will be parting company with its acclaimed wealth management boss Sally Krawcheck, one of the world’s highest ranking women in finance. Was she forced out because of a reluctance to sell Citi-sourced structured products and hedge funds to private clients? After all, Citigroup sold its funds business to Legg Mason and committed itself publicly to giving clients the best solutions available in the market. Does this commitment still hold? Or are such promises only kept when times are good?