Banques privées

Luxembourg-headquartered Quintet Private Bank on Thursday posted its first net profit in four years as interest margins improved thanks to rising interest rates. Higher trading income and a one-time gain from the sale of its stake in EFA also underpinned its performance last year.

The head of the European Securities and Markets Authority, which oversees and coordinates the work of European supervisors in asset management, on Tuesday called on the industry to pay more attention to the management of increasing interest rate risks and to step up its efforts in terms of “prudent management” of the investment funds.

UBS is acquiring industry peer Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs. They will pay 0.76 Swiss francs in UBS shares. The opening offer was initially 0.25 Swiss francs per share. As recently as Friday, Credit Suisse closed at a closing price of 1.86 Swiss francs, representing a market capitalisation of 7.3 billion Swiss francs. The combined entity will become Europe’s largest Globally Systemically Important Bank, also known as a G-SIB.

Laurent Cooreman on Monday was appointed as chief executive officer at Belair House, the real-estate focused family office unit of Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, also known as BIL.

La Banque centrale européenne a réitéré dimanche ses préoccupations quant à la manière dont les banques gèrent la hausse des taux d’intérêt, en réponse à des questions sur le bank run de la Silicon Valley Bank.

La BCE a rappelé qu’une étude récente avait révélé des lacunes, notamment en ignorant les changements de comportement des consommateurs qui pourraient conduire à des retraits de dépôts lorsque les taux d’intérêt augmentent.

Joachim Aelvoet a été nommé Country Executive d’ABN AMRO en Belgique. La banque l’annonce dans un communiqué. 

Less than a month after the European parliament adopted its updated regulation for Eltifs - the European long-term investment funds - the new framework may be showing its first cracks. The lack of liquidity remains problematic, and that makes it unsuitable for private investors. 

Nous voulons encore accroître le niveau d’expertise de nos chargés de clientèle. Mais l’interaction personnelle avec les clients reste cruciale. Je veux me concentrer davantage sur ce point afin que tous les clients reçoivent l’attention qu’ils méritent. J’entends par là également les femmes et les jeunes», déclare Sabine Caudron, responsable du Private Banking chez Degroof Petercam.

Hugo Lasat has been at the helm of Belgian private bank Degroof Petercam for almost a year and a half. The biggest challenge of a bank CEO is constantly being in decision mode, he said in an interview with Investment Officer. “Procrastination is not done.”

Luxembourg-based private bank Quintet this year plans to eliminate 165 jobs, or 9 percent of its 2,000-strong workforce in six European countries as it attempts to become a more efficient organisation. Most jobs are expected to disappear through natural attrition.