Market watch
PWM European Open Architecture Forum
Before achieving the high-minded ideal of offering customers the ultimate range of funds, banks must first negotiate a maze of practical and philosophical issues. PWM and its publisher Financial Times Business are hosting the European Open Architecture Forum in order to address these critical questions. Top players, including Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and UBS, will be airing their views on such problems as whether selling third party funds damages your brand and how fund providers should be chosen in terms of fees, process and performance. Country case studies will detail the experience of open architecture implementation in different markets. Speakers include Marc Raynaud, head of global distribution at BNP Paribas, Juan Alcaraz, head of Allfunds, Banco Santander and Mark DeSario, director of managed assets, Merrill Lynch Private Client Group. The Open Architecture Forum, to be held on 8 October in London, will be followed by two workshops on 9 October. The first will offer intensive training in expert fund selection techniques. The second will break down the practicalities of product delivery for open architecture strategies. For more information call +44 (0)20 7382 8273 or visit www.ftbusinessevents.com.
Banks face fourth year of falling revenues Despite talk of the global economy turning a corner, wealth managers and private banks worldwide are haemorrhaging money. They face a fourth year of declining revenues – now down more than 25 per cent from their peak – according to the latest report from Boston Consulting Group. Wealth managers’ assets under management have dropped 14 per cent, says the survey, entitled Winning in a Challenging Market: Global Wealth 2003. The clients of wealth managers and private banks lost $2600bn (e2334bn) of their assets in 2002, with the world’s millionaires and billionaires losing $1900bn collectively. “There is at least one bright light in all this gloom,” said Bruce M Holley, vice-president of Boston. “A strong group of competitors – roughly the top third – is performing well and producing returns of as much as 20–30 per cent even in these difficult markets. These successful players are present in all the major geographies and across the various business models. They distinguish themselves with their good strategies and careful management.” The banking industry lost 9 per cent of its market capitalisation in 2002, according to Boston. But banking still actually outperformed, as this figure compares to a fall of 17 per cent for world stock markets.
