Does private banking have a future? This question is increasingly
asked given the US government’s attack on Switzerland’s oldest private
bank and the mounting pressure traditional Swiss private banks have come
under from tax-greedy politicians in many countries and international
financial regulators, as well as the increasing complexity of the
banking business.
Having thus far weathered a difficult economic period, firms in the Cayman Islands are finding that, with the right sort of preparation, a flexible approach, and a willingness to adapt, significant opportunities remain for businesses to grow.
Even though topics such as customer insight, segmentation or
loyalty have been recurrent themes in the financial services industry for the
last ten years, it was not until the credit crisis began that many institutions
in Latin America started to perceive and understand the value of these
concepts.
As we look ahead into a new era of international financial services, the
key selling-points for financial services firms, wherever they are
based, will be an ability to demonstrate a high degree of stability,
specialist and sophisticated expertise and impressive global reach.
Are the use of definitions such as “Emerging Market” or “Developed
Market” are useful or whether they have been made redundant by the
recent financial crisis? In the CFA curriculum, students are taught that the US market is
the safest market there is, because of the transparency, disclosure and
regulation that exists; by definition therefore...
Governments and countries must ultimately live within their means as
well. Governments can spend more than they receive in taxes by
borrowing, but purchasers of their debt will stop lending to any
government whose debt they think is growing too large for the
government to service.
With forecasts playing down the chances of a rapid upturn, issues of liquidity and volatility will continue to play major roles in markets over the coming months.
The impact of monetary base growth on the value of the US dollar. The unorthodox monetary policy of quantitative easing being pursued by the Fed in response to the global financial crisis has, of late, caused widespread speculation that out-of-control inflation will erupt in the world’s largest economy and significantly weaken the value of the US dollar.
What role do investment advisers and private bankers have to play in a world where most investors have lost a lot of money? Is the traditional client investment advice role a relic of the past? Should individuals even be investing at all?
Providing loan facilities to investment funds is certainly nothing new and it has been a lucrative business for a number of banks here in the Cayman Islands for many years. With single manager funds obtaining their finance at brokerage level, the primary market for Cayman banks are fund of fund vehicles (usually formed as Cayman Islands exempted companies) to which they provide both bridge and leverage finance.
The Cayman Island Monetary Authority operates a currency board to ensure adequate backing for the Cayman Islands currency and that enough paper currency and coin is available to meet the demands of the market. In 1971, the political leaders in Cayman and the UK decided that the Cayman Islands economy had grown sufficiently to support its own currency, through the use of a currency board and that such a currency would be in the political and economic interests of the Cayman Islands.