Thoughts on Leading Entrepreneurs

When entrepreneurs get together, they inevitably start trading war stories—the times they did not think they would make it, and the times they kept going when everyone told them to give up. The reality is that it is incredibly difficult to start, sustain, and grow a business. Of the half million or so new businesses [...]

Read Full Post »

The Russians are Coming

One cannot fail to notice the increased activity within the Russian financial industry in recent years. Leading Russian investment banks, with the blessing of the Kremlin, have sets their sights on international expansion. The significance of Vladimir Putin choosing to make a keynote speech at a Sberbank event in Moscow earlier this month should not be [...]

Read Full Post »

Private Banking: Road Ahead

In recent years the banking industry has experienced a marked increase in regulatory burden, spiralling costs in compliance and reduced commissions related to lower client activity. Systemic problems require systemic solutions. Most private banks have been forced to rethink their overall strategy in terms of cost structure, regional focus and product shelf. In particular, some [...]

Read Full Post »

Swiss Banking in Dangerous Waters

What was going on nearly ten years ago represented the first indication that the health of Swiss private banking was beginning to suffer. Back in the early noughties, two originally family-owned Swiss banks called Vontobel and Bank Sarasin sought outside shareholders to bolster their ailing balance sheets. Both banks had been hurt by the bursting [...]

Read Full Post »