The Briefing on Private Banker International

IN DATA: POWER IN NUMBERS

Harbor Capital Advisors has expanded its equity fund line-up by introducing six new low-volatile funds.

The company partnered with Robeco Institutional Asset Management US to launch these conservative equities funds across multiple geographic regions.

The newly launched funds include Harbor Robeco US Conservative Equities Fund, Harbor Robeco International Conservative Equities Fund, Harbor Robeco Global Conservative Equities Fund and Harbor Robeco Emerging Markets Conservative Equities Fund.

€15m

Prosecutors in Frankfurt have closed a criminal probe into alleged money laundering at Deutsche Bank but imposed a penalty of €15m on the bank.

German authorities raided Deutsche Bank’s offices, including its Frankfurt base, in connection with the probe in 2018. The move hit the bank’s stock value significantly.

The raid, involving 170 authorities, looked into alleged misconduct at Deutsche Bank’s British Virgin Islands unit Regular.

$122m

Cambridge Bancorp, the holding company of private bank Cambridge Trust Company, has agreed the acquisition of Wellesley Bancorp for nearly $122m.

Wellesley Bancorp, through its two subsidiaries- Wellesley Bank and Wellesley Investment Partners, offers banking services to affluent people, families and businesses.

As of 30 September 2019, Wellesley had nearly $986m in total assets.

$232.1m

The Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management arm of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) has reported a net income of C$306m ($232.1m) for the fourth quarter (Q4) of fiscal 2019.

This is a decrease of 8% from the previous year figure of C$333m.

The division’s total revenue rose 4% C$1.03bn from C$986m over the same period. The bank attributed the growth to strong volume growth and higher fees in both commercial banking and wealth management.

$98.2m

Julius Baer has been ordered by the Zurich Court of Appeal to pay CHF97m ($98.2m) along with accrued interest related to alleged missing funds from an account in 1990s.

In the case, the court sustained the demands made by the German federal body Bundesanstalt für vereinigungsbedingte Sonderaufgaben (BvS) against Bank Julius Baer.

The issue stretches back to 2005 when the Swiss private bank took over Bank Cantrade. Julius Baer picked up Cantrade as part of its acquisition of Bank Ehinger & Armand von Ernst from UBS.

32%

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) reported a 32% increase in the Wealth Management segment’s Q4 2019 income at $552.8m.

The Wealth Management segment posted an income of $133.4m in fourth quarter of 2018.

RBC attributed the $68.2m (14%) increase to the sale of BlueBay private debt business ($101.6m) and higher average fee-based client assets.

3-4 years

Swiss investment bank UBS Group has unveiled plans to double the headcount at its investment banking joint venture in China in the next three to four years.

UBS Asia Pacific global banking head David Chin said that the majority-owned Chinese joint venture has 400 employees, Reuters reported.

UBS is the first foreign bank to get approval from the Chinese regulators to increase its stake in the joint venture to 51%.

BMO Financial wealth management arm has registered a rise in income in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019. However, the group profit was affected by costs associated with job cuts.

£6.6bn

Premier Asset Management recorded a decrease in its assets under management (AuM) before its combination with Miton Group, hit by outflows.

The company’s AuM totalled £6.6bn ($8.51bn) at the end of September 2019, as against £6.9bn a year ago.

Its net outflows were £233m in the year to September 2019, versus net inflows of £734m last year.