Industry news

Wealth manager Frenkel Topping forms new JV with law firm CFG Law

26 July | Wealth

The independent financial advice (IFA) unit of British wealth manager Frenkel Topping Group has established a new joint venture (JV) with law firm CFG Law.

The 50:50 JV represents the eighth initiative undertaken by Frenkel Topping in the personal injury (PI) and clinical negligence sector.

The newly created JV will operate under the name of CFG Financial Services (CFGFS).

It will provide legal and financial advice to clients who require legal help following injury, illness or clinical negligence.

26 July | Market

Julius Baer H1 profits slump amid market swings

Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer has reported a fall in profit in the first half of 2022, which it described as “one of the worst six-month periods for capital markets in decades”.


The bank’s net income dropped 26% to $468m (CHF450m). Net profit attributable to shareholders also dropped by 26% to CHF451m or earnings per share by 24% to CHF 2.15.


Operating income was down 6.0% to CHF 1.97bn in the six months to June 2022.

25 July | Cryptocurrency 

Barclays to pick stake in cryptocurrency firm Copper

Barclays is acquiring a stake in cryptocurrency firm Copper, which counts former UK chancellor Philip Hammond among its advisers, Sky News has reported citing sources privy to the development.


The British banking giant is said to be one of the new investors in Copper’s latest capital raise.

25 July | Management

Malaysia’s AMMB mulling to divest asset management arm AmInvest

Malaysia-based financial services company AMMB is contemplating an option to offload its asset management arm, AmInvest, which estimated to be valued at around $300m, reported Bloomberg.


AmInvest comprises AmFunds Management and AmIslamic Funds Management.

With around 40 years of presence, the unit has approximately $10.7bn of total assets under management until the end of March this year.


According to the sources, Barclays plans to invest a few million dollars in the round, which is expected to be finalised in the next few days.

22 July | Digital

Rabobank selects InvestCloud to provide digital financial planning to wealthy clients

Netherlands-based bank Rabobank has chosen InvestCloud to offer digital financial planning to its private banking as well as retail customers.

With the move, Rabobank aims to provide intelligent goal-based financial planning to its high-net-worth individual (HNWI) clients.

The tech vendor claims that its solutions will allows Rabobank customers to build their individual life plans right from early retirement, child’s education to world tour and others.

22 July | Credit

Moscow court blocks Credit Suisse from disposing shares in Russian subsidiaries

A Moscow court has banned Credit Suisse from disposing its shares in the Russian unit after it failed to repay a loan to one of the Russian lenders that fell under sanctions in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, reported Reuters.

The court is also seeking to seize $10.2m (CHF10m) from the Zurich-headquartered bank.

Credit Suisse was blocked by Moscow’s arbitration court from offloading its shares in Bank Credit Suisse (Moscow) and Credit Suisse Securities (Moscow); two of the Swiss lender’s Russian subsidiaries.

The court ruled in favour of private bank Transcapitalbank (TCB) in a dispute over a €10m loan.

Credit Suisse, which has one month appeal period to challenge the ruling, did not comment on the news.

21 July | Deals

Brazil’s BTG Pactual and BlackRock form alliance for fund distribution

Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual has collaborated with BlackRock to distribute the BlackRock FIA ETF BDR Fund, which is designed for institutional investors.

The partnership is set to use BTG Pactual’s third party distribution area, which serves local and international managers, to allocate the fund.

However, funds supervised by BTG Pactual Asset Management are not included in the deal.

21 July | Strategy

Barclays gets regulatory nod to set up subsidiary in Taiwan

British bank Barclays has secured regulatory approval from Taiwanese authorities to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in the country.

The new entity, dubbed Barclays Securities Taiwan Ltd (BSTL), will offer brokerage and underwriting services to the bank’s global and Taiwanese corporate and institutional clients.

Taiwan is said to be a strategically important market Barclays’ Asia Pacific business.

21 July | Deals

Credit Suisse to divest part of Mexican business to Actinver

Credit Suisse has struck a deal to transfer a select portfolio of clients and some of its relationship managers in Mexico to regional wealth manager Corporacion Actinver.

The move is part of a strategic alliance formed by the two firms “to further invest in and develop their wealth management offerings in Mexico”.

Actinver will take on Credit Suisse’s Mexican customers with predominantly domestic needs and offer them continued service and more comprehensive local offering”, according to a press release.

20 July | Strategy

M&G Wealth Advice chooses intelliflo to support expansion plans

UK-based wealth manager M&G Wealth Advice has chosen intelliflo as technology partner to support its expansion strategy.

Through this partnership, M&G Wealth Advice aims to provide improved intuitive interface to its advisers to enable simpler financial planning in shorter duration.

Recently, the company revealed its plan to increase the number of its adviser from the existing 400 to 1,000 within the next five years.

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