HSBC switches private banking clients in France to Louvre Gestion.

Yuri Bender reports on a network created to support wealth advisers facing a conflict of interest when deciding what is best for customers.

A quick analysis of international merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the wealth management market indicates that around 25 significant acquisitions have been made in the last nine months. What is more, half of the deals have included at least one Swiss partner. With large transatlantic mergers seen as the way forward for wealth managers, the Helvetic activity shows Switzerland remains at the heart of international business.

Roxane McMeeken on why Dexia’s private banking makeover embraces expansion Eastwards as well as improved service levels with an emphasis
on financial planning, but doggedly sticks to its anti-open architecture stance.Private banking operations at Franco-Belgian financial services group Dexia are being beefed up, but a question mark hangs over whether the firm will embrace the use of external asset managers.

Hedge fund manager in London; ETF salesman in Germany; Italian open architecture afficionado; retail marketeer (individual investor bias preferred) in Spain.
Andrew Hutchings proffers a guide to Europe’s dream jobs for the coming 12 months.

Roxane McMeeken quizzes Citigroup’s private banking chief Peter Scaturro on the firm’s strategy for success in Europe. Even before the Iraq war, anti-American feeling was not uncommon in Europe. Now, as President George W. Bush attempts to mend fences with former friends across the Atlantic, the sentiment is close to rife.
But US super bank Citigroup has no plans to de-Americanise its private banking proposition for Europe.
Citigroup’s private banking chief Peter Scaturro believes Europe provides one of the bank’s largest opportunities and has an ambitious growth plan for the region. Yet he happily flies in the face of the entrenched idea that European clients respond best to a service minutely tailored to suit them.

US funds house explores channels besides direct distribution in an
effort to tap into the European market. Roxane McMeeken writes.

Professional Wealth Management held a successful forum in London in early October to discuss the future of open architecture distribution of mutual funds in Europe.
This was attended by more than 170 delegates from Continental Europe and the UK. Participants included leading manufacturers and distributors of investment products.
They discussed different distribution models and channels, how far banks should open up, and most crucial of all, what effect open architecture would have on the bottom line. Over the following five pages are some edited extracts of key speeches and discussions from the first day of the forum.
– Reporting by Roxane McMeeken and Yuri Bender