Banks hold a lot of art, but how can they justify owning valuable collections, which have no practical use, when their previous extravagances have left their stakeholders in such pain?

February 2019

In a supposedly slow-moving industry, the amount of change in global wealth management over five decades has been remarkable.

If there was ever a risk of client advisers being replaced by robots, that danger has now passed. Today both robo-advisers and large wealth managers see the importance of having humans and technology work together.

Financial services group CreditEase runs an app through which its private banking clients can be connected to needy women farmers in China’s rural interior. It’s a remarkable initiative taken up by 200,000 farmers and shows what can be done with low-level credit. But how does the risk management work?

More than 2,000 private bankers took part in the 2019 Euromoney private banking survey. See who’s up and who’s down globally, regionally and by country.

For many private banks that set up in Asia in the last decade, the cost of doing business kept them locked out of the vast expansion of wealth in the region; those that didn’t leave are settling into a more mature industry, but they are a long way from being able to relax.

Wealth management was built by men for men, but now that women will become the largest beneficiaries of the $30 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer, the industry needs to overhaul itself. If it doesn’t, it will be letting down more than just its female clients.

Euromoney’s coverage of private banking since our launch in 1969 reflects the changes in the industry itself. The first 30 years were dominated by Swiss banks – and trying to get into their inner sanctums. The last two decades have seen the evolution of wealth management into a truly global business, new professionalisation and increasing competition.

Looking back over 50 years, it is surprising how finance has changed its role in protest.

Bank shares have bounced back from recent lows in early 2019, but investors tempted to bet on a sustained rally risk yet another year of disappointment.

A string of due-diligence shortcomings enabled the international fraud that sapped investor confidence in once-booming London-listed oil firm Afren – and has also now led to jail time for its two top executives. What lessons can the banking industry learn from the failings laid bare in the court proceedings?

President Donald Trump has pulled off the almost impossible task of making America’s banks look good, if not exactly great, again.

Digital innovation has the potential to transform international trade, yet many argue that banks are lagging in replacing antiquated systems for trade with smart solutions. What is behind the delays?

Euromoney is a great believer that if you’re going to cover inclusive finance properly, you have to talk to the people who are supposed to be on the receiving end of the inclusion.

February 2019

The pieces are starting to shift on the board of Chinese investment banking. There have been signs of progress, frustration and new strategy since last April’s announcement that foreigners would be allowed to take majority stakes in securities joint ventures on the mainland.

Branch closures in the name of digitalization, on top of wider woes in the retail sector, could exacerbate the kind of community breakdown that led to Brexit.

On January 25, after a record-breaking 35-day shutdown, a deal was finally struck to fund US government activity until February 15, but without another agreement, state agencies will again close down on that day. Equity capital markets bankers could face further disruption and precious few options for getting IPOs out of the door.

Harsher-than-expected 100% coverage deadlines; no ‘significant’ impact on capital, insist banks.

India’s first real estate investment trust is being fast-tracked to IPO before the end of February. Bankers expect the primary offering to raise more than $1 billion, giving a much-needed fillip to the country’s capital markets.

To get out of a funk, the ousted PM sings soul, brother.

Before it sets off into Africa, the international financial institution needs to look to its roots.

A surreal moment with the new head of the Vienna Stock Exchange.

Berlin alone cannot change the costly quirks of Germany’s state-owned corporate banks.

The rules of engagement between incumbents and fintech suppliers of new products, which banks then white-label to their customers, need review.

Having tested HSBC FX Everywhere on internal payments, the bank now aims to provide it as a platform service to clients.

Restructuring shows vulnerability of highly indebted firms as cycle turns.

New penalties from China’s bank regulator suggest a firmer stance on trying to bury bad debts, but it’s not just a bludgeoning.

With new voting FOMC members queuing up to proclaim their reluctance to raise rates further, it only remains to be seen how flexible the Fed will be on balance-sheet reduction.