- January 22, 2010 - Goldman Closes Global Equity Fund
Goldman Sachs's asset management division closed its Global Equity Opportunities Fund at the end of December 2009, according to a person familiar with the situation reported by the Financial Times.
It is believed that GEO, once the manager of more than $7 billion, lost close to $1. 5 billion in the first two weeks of August 2007 and that the bank stepped in with a $3 biliion bailout, although it had no obligation to do so.
- January 20, 2010 - Bank Of America Hires Former Goldman Chief Technology Officer
Bank of America has appointed Michael Dubno – Goldman Sachs’ former chief technology officer – to replace Chris Augustin as its head of global markets and research technology.
Mr Dubno, who joined BoA yesterday, is credited with pioneering the use of the internet at Goldman Sachs during his tenure and was instrumental in the development of the bank’s first client-facing website, the GS Financial. Mr Dubno was Goldman Sachs’ CTO between 2002 and 2005, having first joined the bank in the mid-eighties as a consultant programmer.
- January 18, 2010 - MFS Investment Management Makes Trio Of London Appointments
Boston-based MFS Investment Management has bolstered its investment and product management teams in London with a trio of appointments.
Stuart McPherson and Ward Griffiths have joined MFS’s equity analyst team and will support both portfolio managers and analysts as part of the firm’s global research platform. Both now report to Christopher Jennings, co-director of equity research for Europe.
- January 14, 2010 - Managing Director At HSBC Private Bank Defects To Goldman Sachs
Jafar Hamid, managing director, key accounts at HSBC Private Bank’s south Asian diaspora team has resigned and will be taking up a new private banking role at Goldman Sachs, WealthBriefing understands.
Mr Hamid is expected to join Goldman Sachs early this year as a private banker to non-resident Indian clients, and will be reporting to Robert Suss, head of UK private banking at the firm.
Before joining HSBC, Mr Hamid headed the key accounts desk in UBS’s south Asian team; prior to UBS he worked with ultra high net worth south Asian clients at Citigroup Private Bank and Cre.
- January 14, 2010 - Global Investment Management Firm Launches UCITs Fund
Continuing the trend of regulated versions of successful funds emerging, global investment management firm Dalton Strategic Partners is launching the MST European Fund – a UCITs-compliant version of the Melchior European Fund – as a sub-fund of the Melchior Selected Trust, a Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV.
The MST European fund aims to replicate the strategy of the Melchior European Fund and achieve absolute returns uncorrelated to equity or bond markets, using the full UCITs III powers, including leverage and derivatives, the firm said in a press statement.
The fun.
- January 11, 2010 - BNY Mellon Continues Hiring In US Southeast With Senior Appointment
BNY Mellon Wealth Management has made a senior appointment to lead its private banking operations in the southeastern region of the US, coming after a number of appointments last week.
The bank said it has recruited Lisa Simington to manage its private banking business for the southeast US, covering Florida and Georgia. Ms Simington will report to Tom Roberts, managing director in the Private Banking Group headed by national director Bill Sappington.
- January 11, 2010 - Big US Banks Brace For Furore Over Bonuses As Results Season Commences
Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and a number of other large banking groups are bracing for public and political assaults on their pay as they prepare to reveal bonus packages in their quarterly reporting announcements, the Financial Times said.
Although banks have sought to deflect anger about the issue, the figures that are likely to be disclosed will still be controversial at a time when a number of large institutions have only recently been in receipt of billions of dollars of taxpayers’ cash, the publication said.
A taste of the political furore likely to accompany the bonus sea.
- January 6, 2010 - Goldman Due To Pay $1 Billion In Bonus-Linked Tax To UK - Report
Goldman Sachs, the investment banking and wealth management firm, is expected to pay UK bonuses in full, requiring it to pay about $1 billion in taxes to the UK Treasury, according to CityAm, the daily newspaper.
The increase in the size of the bonus pool is designed to compensate for the impact of the government’s 50 per cent levy on bank bonuses in excess of £25,000.
Bankers and investment professionals have warned the UK government that the bonus tax, coupled with a new, planned top income tax rate of 50 per cent on high earners, and a levy on non-domiciled residents, wil.
- January 6, 2010 - UK's Vestra Aims To Rapidly Expand Offshore Business - Founder
Vestra Wealth plans to quickly build a new offshore business, targeting £500 million ($805 million) in assets under management by the end of this year, its founder and managing partner said, according to Reuters.
David Scott, who founded Vestra in late 2008, said Vestra is recruiting 10 new client advisors to build the offshore arm which will be based in Jersey.
In 2008, as exclusively reported by WealthBriefing at the time, Vestra jolted the UK’s wealth management industry when it took more than 50 employees from UBS, Mr Scott’s erstwhile employer, to create a new business .
- January 5, 2010 - Executive Moves - December 2009
North America
Northern Trust has founded a new leadership team for its personal financial services operations in the Midwest. The team will be led by David Blowers, who will function as president and chief executive officer, overseeing all wealth management operations in more than 20 Northern Trust offices throughout the Midwest. Prior to his new appointment, Mr Blowers was president of personal financial services for the firm’s Illinois operations.
