Latest Business Intelligence
Brewin Dolphin Marks A Big Anniversary With A Big Gardening Win
May 23, 2012
In wealth management you might want to have the Midas Touch, but to shift terminology, at the UK’s Brewin Dolphin, it seems having green fingers can be just as rewarding. At the annual Chelsea Flower Show, a garden design supported by the firm came away with a Best in Show prize for the second year running.
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Barclays' Kalaris Gets Hands On English Football's Biggest Domestic Prize
May 15, 2012
Tom Kalaris, chief executive of the wealth and investment arm of Barclays, will have hoped that some of the reflected glory shines on his firm after he had the honour of presenting the Barclays Premier League trophy to Manchester City at the weekend. Getting your hands on the trophy is one of the perks of the job for someone such as Kalaris, whose firm is currently the principal sponsor of the league.
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US Banking Luminary Coming To London To Lecture On Financial Crisis
May 14, 2012
John Allison, one of the luminaries of the US banking system, and a man unafraid, it seems, to speak his mind about the philosophical implications of the financial crisis, is going to be in London for a major lecture on 21 June. While some commentators have bashed bankers’ bonuses, or chided the use of credit derivatives, or blamed debt-addicted borrowers, Allison is one of those financiers who argues that the problems go much deeper.
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The Scream - An Emerging Markets Billionaire Trophy?
May 4, 2012
This week Edvard Munch’s iconic work The Scream broke records as the most expensive piece of art sold at auction, with an eye-watering hammer price of $119 million. It surpassed the previous record, held by Pablo Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, which sold at Christie’s New York in May 2010 for $106 million.
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UK Investment House Still Cannot Shake The Deflation Blues
May 3, 2012
With all the printing of money, sorry, quantitative easing, that central banks have engaged in, it would be easy to suppose that one of the biggest economic threats is inflation. And that threat may yet come to pass if all that money really does start to whizz around the system.
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French Bank Renews Deals To Take Another Swing At Golf Sponsorship
April 17, 2012
Société Générale Private Banking certainly does not think that golf is a way to spoil a nice walk in the countryside. The French bank has renewed its support for the Indian player Jeev Milkha Singh, the first ever Indian golfer qualified for the European Tour and the Augusta Masters, and for the French golfer, Christian Cevaër, winner of the European Tour in 2009.
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Barclays' Wealth Division Brings Music To Asia's Ears
March 26, 2012
Barclay's newly-rebranded wealth and investment management division is bringing music to Asia’s ears, as headline orchestra sponsor of the inaugural Lorin Maazel Philharmonia Orchestra concert in China and Hong Kong. Lorin Maazel is a world famous conductor while the Philharmonia Orchestra is considered the UK’s foremost classical music group.
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Towry Sponsors Long-Running London Art Fair
March 21, 2012
Unsurprisingly in the year of the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s reign, a monarchical theme forms part of this year’s London Original Print Fair, an event that is being sponsored this time around by Towry, the wealth advisory firm. The fair is described by its marketing people as “the longest-running specialist print fair in the world”.
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Hublot Dazzles With $5 Million, 140-Carat Diamond Watch
March 12, 2012
Continuing a rash of world firsts in bling, Geneva-based watchmaker Hublot has unveiled a men’s watch believed to be the most expensive ever, set with 140 carats of diamonds and which is estimated to be worth a staggering $5 million. Close to 1,300 diamonds adorn not only the entire face of the watch but also the band, and six of the diamonds weigh in at over three carats each.
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Swiss Up The Ante With Ring Made Entirely Of Diamond
March 8, 2012
Your glamorous correspondent thought she had seen it all when January saw the world’s most diamond-encrusted ring unveiled, but it seems that when it comes to "a girl’s best friend", the stakes just keep rising. At the start of the year news emerged that the "Tsarevana Swan" had made the Guinness Book of World Records for "the most diamonds set in one ring wearable on the human finger.
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Debrett's Dispenses Divorce Etiquette Advice To Warring Couples
February 29, 2012
In a week where the “leap day” will see women around the world seizing their quadrennial “right” to propose to their beaux, some – at least – are peering through the mists of romance and taking a steely look at how to handle things when they go sour. While your glamorous correspondent does not as yet feature in Debrett’s Peerage & Baronetage (eligible bachelors take note), pronouncements from this time-honoured bastion of etiquette are always of interest, particularly when the topic under discussion is “the end of the affair”, as it were.
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Coutts Unveils Eggstraordinary Charity Effort
February 28, 2012
Your intrepid correspondent’s daily saunter along the Strand was greatly enlivened yesterday by an eggstraordinary sight at Coutts' offices at Number 440: a two and a half foot bejewelled Fabergé egg. Further investigation into this eggstravagantly bling creation revealed that it forms part of The Big Egg Hunt – an effort to raise up to £1 million ($1.
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Wealth Manager Choppers In To Support London Charity
February 23, 2012
It’s always nice to see wealth management firms doing their bit for charity, and it’s even nicer when the charity in question is one that concerns the home of your glamorous correspondent, so it was very gratifying to see that the London Air Ambulance has been chosen by Coutts as its charity partner for this year. London’s Air Ambulance provides pre-hospital medical care to victims of serious injury, at the scene of the incident, throughout London - serving the 10 million people who live, work and commute within the M25.
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Expats And The Dangerous Life
February 14, 2012
Your glamorous correspondent comes across all manner of unusual data in the quest to enlighten wealth managers. Those firms who care for expatriates might like to ponder new facts revealed in a poll by MediCare International, a UK-based business.
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On The Case For Active Management And, Er, Hippos
February 3, 2012
It might be fashionable in some quarters to beat up active fund managers for not delivering enough of that precious “Alpha” to justify their fees but the chief executive of UK-listed Jupiter Asset Management is defiant about the benefits of this approach. “It’s [active management] almost in danger of becoming an endangered species,” Edward Bonham-Carter told journalists and fin.
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