In brief

4 Feb 2021

JP Morgan Chase is reportedly withdrawing from its private banking operations in Mexico and has entered into an agreement to refer the business to BBVA Mexico.

The move to exit Latin America’s second-largest economy comes as rich customers look to transfer their funds in some Latin America markets to world capitals, reported Bloomberg citing people familiar with the issue.

This was partly triggered by president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s populist policies that includes a tax clampdown.

The bank will continue to cater to its clients from Mexico via its platform outside of the country, according to the report. The news was not confirmed by the bank.

4 Feb 2021

Citibank has officially launched its digital wealth offering Citi Plus in Hong Kong, after a pilot launch last December.

The new offering aims to serve digital natives via mobile banking, offering then tailored wealth management data and knowledge kits to accumulate their wealth.

It provides a range of investment products to clients including stocks, money market funds and mutual funds primarily from Aberdeen Standard Investments, Allianz Global Investors as well as Franklin Templeton. The investment threshold is low.

Citi Plus also offers a series of financial wellness modules to educate clients about money management decisions, build wealth and meet financial goals, and drive wealth inclusion.

3 Feb 2021

Asset manager Amundi has announced the introduction of three flagship funds to retail investors in Singapore and a focus on ESG.

All three funds hold four or five star ratings from Morningstar and will strengthen Amundi expertise in Singapore. In addition, they are set to meet the evolving needs of investors.

The three funds are:

• Amundi Funds Pioneer US Bond: a multi-sector fixed income fund that invests in a number of US dollar-denominated investment grade bonds;
  
  
• Amundi Funds Polen Capital Global Growth: a global equity fund with a high-conviction portfolio that is made up of high quality companies, and
  
  
• KBI Global Sustainable Infrastructure Fund: a global equity fund highlighting high quality and sustainable infrastructure companies. It aims to deliver strong investment returns with diverse exposure to water and clean energy infrastructure, food storage, and transportation and farmland.

3 Feb 2021

Spain-based bank Santander has announced its intention to achieve net zero carbon emissions across the group by 2050.

The goal applies to the group’s own operations and all client emissions that result from any lending, advisory or investment services provided by Santander.

Furthermore, to achieve this ambition, the group aims to do two things by 2030:

• It will have stopped providing financial services to power generation clients with more than 10% of revenues dependent on thermal coal, and
• Santander will also eliminate all exposure to coal mining worldwide.

2 Feb 2021

CI Global Asset Management (CI GAM), a unit of Canadian wealth manager CI Financial, has filed and also secured a receipt for a preliminary prospectus for a Bitcoin ETF, working with diversified asset firm, Galaxy Digital.

The new CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCX) will offer investors exposure to the crypto currency via an institutional-quality fund platform.

The ETF will directly invest in Bitcoin with its Bitcoin holdings priced using the Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin Index (the BTC). Owned and administered by Bloomberg Index Services, BTC helps gauge the performance of a single Bitcoin traded in US dollars.

The investment manager, which manages around C$231.8bn in assets, also provides a closed-end fund called CI Galaxy Bitcoin Fund. It started trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange last December.

1 Feb 2021

Greece has passed a new law to attract private family offices that caters to ultra-affluent clients with lower taxes.

The new legislation allows family wealth management firms with at least five employees and an annual expenditure of minimum €1m ($1.2m) to knock off staff costs and operating expenses from their tax bill.

Such offices will be taxed using the ‘cost plus method’ (CPM) under the OECD’s transfer pricing guidelines for tax purposes.

The tax authorities will undertake a 7% profit margin on incurred expenditures.

The corporate income tax rate in the country is currently at 24%. With the new law, the effective tax rate on family wealth management firms will stand at 1.68%.

1 Feb 2021

A group of veteran financial executives have joined hands to set up a new investment management and wealth advisory firm in the US.

Dubbed New Republic Partners, the newly launched firm will offer investment, wealth advisory and credit solutions for individuals and families, endowments, foundations, and advisors serving accredited investors.

Through the recent acquisition of New Republic Bank, the firm will also provide concierge financial services to its investment and wealth advisory clients.

The founders said they have already secured The John M Belk Endowment, the MC Belk Pilon family interests and the Springs-Close-Bowles family interests as clients and shareholders.

Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, New Republic Partners will be led by CEO and chairman Ralph Strayhorn and president and COO Tom Hoops.

29 Jan 2021

Credit Agricole CIB has launched the Capital Protected Impact Green Certificates, a green investment solution for Credit Agricole Italia’s clients in Italy.

This is part of the Credit Agricole Group’s initiative to commit to sustainable development and ESG issues.

Funds raised by Credit Agricole CIB via the Green Certificates will be used to support green loans, comprising loans to businesses and projects that demonstrate exceptional ESG performance.

Furthermore, businesses eligible for the green portfolio have to be exclusively dedicated to the transition towards a more environmentally friendly economy. They must also act as role models in terms of performance in this field.

Sectors that count in this criteria are renewable energies, energy efficiency, water and waste management, public transportation and others.

29 Jan 2021

Toronto-based Purpose Investments has received the green light from Canadian securities regulators to launch a direct custody Bitcoin ETF.

Dubbed Purpose Bitcoin ETF, the new offering is said to be the first of its kind in the world.

It will enable investors to invest directly in physically settled Bitcoin instead of derivatives and will be directly backed by physically settled Bitcoin holdings.

The aim is to offer investors easy access to Bitcoin, without the related risk of self-custody within a digital wallet.

The firm said that it collaborated with the Ontario Securities Commission over several months to finalise the roll-out of the ETF.

28 Jan 2021

UBS Group is reportedly expanding its reach in the Middle East by establishing a new hub in Qatar.

The new wealth office in Doha marks the Swiss bank’s second Middle Eastern hub after Dubai, reported Bloomberg.

The bank plans to add investment banking and asset-management services in the future to its wealth management business in the region, according to the report. The hub is expected to launch in weeks.

UBS is looking to hire around 20 employees for the new hub by the end of the year, a person briefed on the plans told the news agency.

These include back office and support staff, in addition to relationship managers to develop business with Qatari clients, the person said.

According to World Bank data, Qatar’s per-capita income is nearly six times higher than that of the world average.