Author: blogger

For many years, independent financial advisors in the UK have operated on a sales-driven commission model. This has meant that instead of being paid directly by those who came to them for impartial financial advice, they received a commission from the providers of the financial products as a marketing cost, with the advice function being a secondary consequence of the transaction.

While this offered short-term benefits for the cash-strapped consumer looking for financial advice, it brought a host of problems. The most obvious was that financial advisors were incentivised to recommend products that paid them attractive commission not necessarily those that were right for their clients.

This problem reached its peak with the pensions mis-selling scandal, which saw thousands of people move out of occupational pensions schemes when they would have been better advised to stay put. Although it first came to light many years ago, pensions mis-selling was still a problem as recently as 2008, when unscrupulous financial advisors were found to be encouraging investors to switch their pensions at a total cost of 43m per year.

As things stand, advisors can take commission when they sell products such as pensions or unit trusts, as well as a trail or recurring commission for every year the consumer holds the product. According to the FSA, these commissions amounted to an average of 5.6% of the sum invested. So while financial advice might be free at the point of sale, it certainly does have an impact on the performance of an investment and, more importantly, it is clear that the advice given to the consumer can never be truly impartial.

However, there is a different way, as Neil Shillito, Director of leading financial advisors SG Wealth Management, explains. Stephen Girling (my fellow director) and I wrote our business plan in 2000, and we felt that the best way to run a higher-end financial advice business was on the basis of what is now known as Customer Agreed Remuneration, he says. Put simply, what advice and service can I expect to be given, over how long and at what cost? People in the industry looked at us as though we were mad. But we were ten years ahead of the thinking at that time. Slowly, the Regulator and the industry have accepted the changes.

The firm has a completely transparent model, where clients are simply charged a percentage of their investment in return for first class advice and service, irrespective of and unrelated to investment products. It took time for the firms offering to catch on, but it soon proved popular. It was very tough in the early years, recalls Shillito. We didnt have enough clients to generate referrals, so we worked hard to build up our presence in the local community and demonstrate that our business proposition added real value to the right kind of client. Despite the horrendous market downturn in 2001/2003 as a result of the bursting of the “tech bubble”, we became profitable in our fourth year, and have become increasingly profitable ever since. Even the recessionary period of 2007/2009 has failed to make a dent in the robustness of our financial stability.

It seems the rest of the financial advice industry is now coming round to SGWMs way of thinking: from 2012, UK financial advisors will be forced to charge the consumer directly for their services. Is SGWM concerned about the influx of new competitors? No, not really, Neil replies. We have a ten-year head start in terms of what the FSAs RDR [Retail Distribution Review] will bring in 2012. Firms that are changing slowly or reluctantly are going to find it hard to adjust, while were already accustomed to delivering our financial advice this way. If anything, it will be good for us, because it will raise awareness and acceptance of the direct-charging model.

The Islamic Finance Council (IFC) UK and Scottish law firm Tods Murray are leading the initiative. Islamic and ethical finance are closely related and the sector is growing rapidly. According to an industry expert, Islamic finance will be worth $2 trillion (1.2 trillion) globally by the end of this year.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Graham Burnside, chairman and head of banking at Tods Murray and IFC board member, said, We have seen ethical finance debate gain real momentum in the last 12 months.
We know that the financial services industry is fully behind the proposal and there is no doubt that Scotland is now well placed to develop the worlds first centre for the development and promotion of ethical finance, which could in turn stimulate the development of innovative financial products.
Last year, figures released by the IFC found that more than 50% of Scots want to see some of their money invested using green or ethical criteria. This signalled the opportunity for the creation of an ethical finance hub.
Swinney commented, Providers of ethical finance have the potential to position themselves as a viable alternative to mainstream institutions within the financial services sector in Scotland which will inevitably benefit consumers and the industry itself as increased competition drives standards and promotes innovation.
According to the organisations, Scotland could also see investment of over 100m in public projects from Islamic capital markets as a result of new powers to issue bonds. From 2015 the Scottish government will have the additional power to issue investment bonds.
Burnside said, This additional source of borrowing paves the way for Scotland to establish a suitably rated sukuk bond which, according to the Islamic Finance Council, could comfortably leverage well in excess of 100m from Islamic capital markets.
The use of these powers could offer a way forward for large scale infrastructure and renewable projects, which is an area of real interest to Gulf investors and one which is generally acknowledged is in search of funding.
The firm added that such a project would bring together key players from government, financial services, academia and the third sector to facilitate both commercial investment and thought leadership.

Despite chilly global credit markets, the Middle Eastern wealth management arena is a recruitment hotspot. Firms are busily hiring senior executives to spearhead new wealth management teams. For example, Merrill Lynch recently appointed Mazin Al-Shakarchi as a financial advisor covering Qatar from the Bahrain office. HSBC Bank Middle East has appointed Walid Boustany to the role of executive director, strategic investments, Middle East & North Africa. He will be responsible for HSBC’s strategic planning across the region. Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, has appointed Fadi Abuali as co-head of its Middle East private wealth management business, alongside current head Farid Pasha.

And there is more: the Central Bank of Bahrain has approved Douglas Hansen-Luke as Robeco’s new chief executive for the Middle East. Mr Hansen-Luke formerly worked in senior positions for ABN Amro Asset Management in Asia, Europe and Saudi Arabia. Bahrain-based Ithmaar Bank has appointed Shaikh Salman bin Ahmad Al Khalifa as managing director, group business development.

The rash of appointments seen in recent years will continue, barring an unlikely collapse in demand for wealth management, Professor Amin Rajan, chief executive of Create-Research, a UK consultancy on the investment management industry, told WealthBriefing.

Wealth managers are going into the Middle East in a big way, said Professor Rajan. This is a high-margin business to be in as banks get fees right along the value chain, he said. But although the region is lucrative, making money is not easy. Local investors typically punish poor investment performance quickly – often far faster than is the case with European or US clients, said Professor Rajan.

The real issue is to understand the client mindset. Client money [in the Middle East] isn’t sticky at all. When performance is bad they ask for a rebate, which is how it should be. If [wealth managers] can survive in the Middle East, they can survive anywhere, he added.

Barclays Wealth, for example, has every intention of doing more than just survive in the region. As an illustration of its ambitions, Barclays is moving into a new 14,000 square feet office in the Dubai International Financial Centre, which will be a hub for the firm’s operations in the region. Operating currently in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Barclays Wealth is also planning to make its Doha Qatar office operational this year.

Barclays Wealth leadership believes that the Middle East is a core area of growth. A substantial investment in human resources and capabilities and a rigorous expansion plan will lead to a substantial increase in the scope of operations, Soha Nashaat, managing director, head of Middle East, North Africa & Turkey for Barclays Wealth, told WealthBriefing.
Like Professor Rajan, Ms Nashaat says wealth management firms entering the Middle East from outside the region must understand the local culture if they are to make a success of their business. For example, more than 70 per cent of businesses are family-owned, which requires managers to forge long-term connections.

Wealth managers must understand and cater to the regional trends such as the dominance of family offices, Ms Nashaat said. Investors tend to be intolerant of risk and hold a high proportion of assets in cash and in offshore locations, she added.

Middle Eastern clients put great stress on strong relationships with investment advisors and dislike high turnover in staff, a factor that wealth managers must consider in their staff recruitment and retention plans, Stuart Crocker, chief executive, Emirates Platform and Southern Gulf States, HSBC Private Bank told WealthBriefing.

People don’t like seeing relationship managers moving on every two or three years to other banks, he said. His own bank, part of the HSBC banking group, serves clients both from local Middle Eastern locations as well as from its teams of specialists in Geneva.

The general background for wealth managers is certainly favourable. The investable assets of HNW individuals will rise by 50 per cent between 2006 and 2010, according to Barclays Wealth data.

The number of HNW individuals rose by 11.9 per cent in 2006 from a year before, according to the latest Merrill Lynch/Capgemini World Wealth Report issued last June. Wealth management intermediaries have only started to manage a significant share of assets in the region. Research from Zurich International Life, for example, reveals that expats living in the Middle East prefer to rely on their own judgment or friends and family when purchasing financial products. The survey showed that fewer than one in ten expats would enlist a financial advisor, either in their country of domicile or residence, to help them make the financial decisions. Financial advisors have a vast untapped market to go for.

While researchers like PricewaterhouseCoopers have warned that wealth management firms face a skills bottleneck, hiring staff for Middle Eastern slots is being helped by a benign tax regime and attractive pay packages.

Private bankers in tax-free Dubai earn 25 per cent more than their peers in Geneva and almost 40 per cent more than colleagues in London, according to a recent survey by Dubai-based headhunter Dunn Consultancy FZ-LLC.

Excluding bonuses, private bankers in Dubai with at least 10 years experience receive an average salary of $276,500 with allowances, compared with pre-tax earnings of $221,900 in Geneva and $199,100 in London, it found.

The economics of wealth management in the Middle East certainly look compelling. For the time being at least, the toughest challenge for players in the region is keeping up with the pace.

It seems that the investment banking industry has narrowly escaped Armaggedon and the survivors are waiving the bonus flags again. Intern classes are getting bigger and Business Week reported that Goldman Sachs has reclaimed the top spot as the most popular employer among elite MBA students again. If you are a career switcher and one among many MBA applicants dreaming of joining Goldman Sachs or another bulge bracket investment bank for the summer internship, this article is for you. Below we provide an overview of an investment banking interview and explain why its important to prepare in advance. This is especially true if you are a career switcher.

There are several types of questions which you are likely to be asked in your interview. They include career questions, educational questions, competency questions, fit questions, technical questions and industry questions.

While its difficult to predict which questions exactly you will be asked, there are four questions which will appear in any investment banking interview:
– The WMTYR (Walk me through your resume)
– The 3 Why’s (Why investment banking? Why our bank? Why (should we hire) you?

The answer to the first and the second questions may be quite similar to those you provided in your MBA admission interviews. Answer to the third question is a little bit more complicated and will require specific preparation.

The usual reason for interest in any specific investment bank include: (a) a strong platform, which means strong coverage teams, diverse offering of advisory and financial products, many interesting deals and opportunities to learn (b) a strong presence in specific markets or industries (c) and the most important, tons of wonderful and smart people with whom you talked with during your recruiting process and whom you really made a connection with. Networking is a critical component for your interview preparation but we will discuss this area in one of our
future postings.

Why (should we hire) you? To answer this question you need to reiterate your main strengths, interest in a specific bank and a great fit you feel for the bank you are interviewing with.
You should prepare for this question especially well as a banks approach to this question will usually be that a person who cannot sell himself cannot sell the banks products and banking is definitely a sales job.

Good to know Other challenging fit questions examining your understanding of the
investment banking can be:
– What does an investment banker actually do?
– What is the role of an associate in the investment banking?
The answer to the first question will usually go in the following way:
An investment bank serves as intermediaries between their clients
who need capital in the form of debt and equity
It provides strategic advisory services by structuring transactions
that meet clients needs and objectives
Overall, Investment bank works with companies on the transactions
that will enhance their value. This may include accessing capital
markets to find growth or expand operations, as well as investing in another
company through merger or acquisition. Banks are not only the
matchmaker between parties involved in a transaction, but also the primary
architects of the deal.

A typical answer to the question about the role of an associate will
go like this :
Analyzing industry and company data related to the transaction
Building excel models to valuate companies
Joining strategic meetings
Performing due diligence meetings with the clients
Creating, editing client presentations
Monitoring, paying close attention to documentation associated with
the deal (prospectus, internal memos)
Managing relationship with an analyst
The most important attributes that an associate should have are:
quantitative skills, the ability to learn quickly, discipline, a strong work ethic, the ability to
work in teams, detail orientation and dependability.

While answering competency and behavioral questions you should be structured and succinct. Banks like well organized and structured thinking and will quickly dismiss candidates who ramble or cannot distinguish important points from the less important ones. We recommend creating 3 bullet points for each of your answers and putting them on the paper in advance. Practice your answers with friends and be sure that your story is consistent and flows well before the interview.

The technical part

The technical part of the interview will test your familiarity with the accounting and financial terms. This will definitely require thorough preparation even if you study at one of the top MBA programs . First of all you will need to be familiar with the financial statements and their analysis. The profit and loss statement, the balance sheet and cash flow statements are all fair game in the interview.
Secondly, you will need to have a basic understanding of the company’s valuation methods. You should be very familiar with terms such as cost of capital, cash flow discounting, multiples, accretion and dilution, LBO, CAPM, WACC and Beta.

You also may be asked how M&A and IPOs work and even be given a case study on a business situation. It is strongly recommended that you start b-school having at least a basic understanding of accounting and finance.

Here are some books that can help you.
VAULT Guide to Finance Interviews by D. Bhatawedekhar, Dan Jacobson,
and the Vault Staff
Vault Career Guide to Investment Banking by Tom Lott, Derek Loosvelt
and the Staff of Vault
Heard on the Street by Timothy Falcon Crack.
Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies by Tom
Copeland, et al, John Wiley & Sons Inc
Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies
by McKinsey and Company
Financial Modeling, 3rd Edition (Hardcover), Simon Benninga

In the industry part of the interview the interviewers will test your understanding of the industry and your professional interests.
You will be asked about financial news and trends, current articles related to investment banking, discussions of the economic environment and economic trends, trends in M&A and definitely about specific deals.

To be prepared for this part of the interview its advisable to start reading financial and economic newspapers and journals. The Wall Street Journal, FT and Economist are good sources to gain relevant knowledge.

A couple of additional hints:
– Know recent interesting deals executed by banks with which you are interviewing.
– Talk about deals with passion the interviewers will test not only your level of knowledge but also your passion for IB
– And finally, always read the news in the morning before your interview

Some additional books to better understand investment banking before your interview include:
The Business of Investment Banking: A Comprehensive Overview , by K.
Thomas Liaw
Blue Blood and Mutiny: The Fight for the Soul of Morgan Stanley , by
Patricia Beard
The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frres & Co. , by
William Cohan
The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside the Decade that Transformed
Wall Street , By Jonathan Knee
More entertaining books include:
Barbarians at the Gate , By Bryan Burrough and John Helyar.
Bombardiers , By Po Bronson
Monkey Business: Swinging through the Wall Street Jungle, By John
Rolfe and Peter Troob.
Liars Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street , By Michael
Lewis, Norton Books.

Good luck with your interview!

Have you ever stopped to really think about what your beliefs are around money? Did you know that many of our money beliefs were shaped during our childhood? Some of those beliefs were planted unintentionally by our parents or other influential people in our lives. Others rise out of our own personal experiences, especially past negative experiences. For some it can be a fear of writing checks because in the past they have bounced so many. For others, it can be a fear of success. Some beliefs serve us well and are helpful, while others hold us back.

Negative money beliefs limit us and hold us back because they block our ability to take in information that is in conflict with them. They keep us from seeing how to make meaningful changes. As long as we are being held back by negative money beliefs that don’t serve us, we go through life blindly following those negative beliefs, without conscious thought or the realization that there are other choices available to us. These negative beliefs and the negative energy that they create in our lives lead to self-sabotage.

The key is to raise your awareness of your beliefs around money. If you continue to let negative beliefs define your relationship with money, you will always feel like you are fighting with yourself.

Here are some of the most common negative money beliefs:

More money will make my life better’

Money is bad’ or (in some religious circles) -Money is the root of all evil’

Money is unimportant’

I don’t deserve money’

If you are good, God or the universe will provide for you.’ This goes hand-in-hand with -It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

Do any of these beliefs sound familiar? Have these beliefs held you back, perhaps on a subconscious level? What about your children – what money beliefs are they absorbing? You certainly don’t want them carrying on negative beliefs and habits. It’s important to free yourself, not only for yourself but so your children can experience freedom and success, too!

If you have a belief that is causing you pain, you can change it to one that will get you to where you want to be in your life. You can turn your beliefs from negative to positive. Increasing your wealth is a matter of increasing the quality of your thoughts. If you want to permanently change your financial destiny, you must consciously change your money beliefs.

Examine your beliefs about money. Decide which ones will get you to the next level and which need to be replaced with more positive ones. Recognizing that you have a belief that is holding you back is the first step to changing it. Finding a mentor or coach who has been where you are and can guide you through the maze infinitely faster will make all the difference as well.

Melissa Cappleman is a spiritual prosperity expert and the founder of Blessed & Rich. She works with spiritually-open female entrepreneurs and women in corporations who struggle with the value they bring to their work freeing them to step into their unique brilliance and live the happy, balanced life of their dreams. You can learn more at www.blessedandrich.com and sign up for her 6 week bootcamp can I Really Be Paid That Much.