Wealth news

Mr Leitch, who joins from ABN Amro private banking operation in Geneva, has specialist knowledge on this particular segment, that comprises more than 20m people with investable assets of over $170bn (e138bn).

“The market for private banking services for non-resident Indian clients has grown dramatically in recent years,” says Mr Leitch. “This expansion reflects the entrepreneurial nature of this market segment, the technology boom and the emergence of India as an economic powerhouse.” Non-resident Indian communities in Europe are mainly present in the UK, but also in Portugal, France and Switzerland.

BBVA’s SRI fund

BBVA has launched the first actively managed socially responsible investment fund in the Spanish market. It is based on the proprietary sustainability research of Innovest.

According to Francisco González, BBVA’s CEO, the Sustainable Development fund comes as a response to the growing appetite among investors in Spain for vehicles that follow sustainable principles without renouncing investment outperformance. The fund has been seeded with €78m in assets, invested in European, US and Japanese equities.

ABN passes $1bn

ABN Amro has broken the $1bn (e800m) barrier in assets under management for funds of hedge funds. Three years ago the firm only managed $40m in this type of vehicle.

“Passing through the $1bn level is a key milestone for us and we are continuing to see significant demand for funds of hedge fund products from both institutional and high net worth individuals,” says Gary Vaughan-Smith, the group’s head of alternative investments.

With six funds of hedge funds under management, including the recently launched Relative Value Strategy fund, ABN Amro also manages two single strategy hedge funds, representing assets of $100m, and a further $600m in absolute return currency products.