People Moves - EMEA

Cheviot lobbies for UBS partnership deal

Source: www.efinancialnews.com; June 23, 2008   - Cheviot Asset Management is lobbying UBS to let it co-manage client accounts totalling up to £2bn (€2.5bn) in the wake of a stream of adviser defections from the Swiss bank. Cheviot is led by Michael Kerr-Dineen who sold his wealth advisory firm, Laing & Cruikshank, to UBS in 2001. It is staffed by about 50 former UBS personnel who used to work with him at Laing. Another group of former Laing employees quit last month to join a new wealthy advisory group called Vestra. Kerr-Dineen reckons that client accounts worth £2bn which used to be served by Laing & Cruikshank are still held by UBS. It is understood he is prepared to offer UBS a 50/50 share of their gross revenue over three years to take the burden of servicing them off UBS' hands. He said: "In servicing the Laing accounts following the departure of nearly all its personnel, UBS is facing reputational risk. It will face a regulatory risk if it doesn't look after accounts sufficiently well. Its strategy to develop its own business is facing a risk. Shareholders are in danger of losing value. And UBS faces the hassle of transferring clients off a redundant Laing & Cruikshank platform onto its own. I believe that we are offering UBS an elegant solution. "As part of any deal, Kerr-Dineen said he would be prepared to take on the headache of agreeing terms for departure with UBS advisers who intend to join Vestra. John Pottage, chief executive of UBS Wealth Management in the UK, is not inclined to accept Kerr-Dineen's offer. He said: "UBS remains fully committed to offering UK clients a discretionary investment management capability as this is an integral part of our wealth management offering. Our strategy in the UK remains unchanged and we are well positioned to serve our clients and grow our business. " It is understood that UBS intends to put more resources into the UK to address the challenge.

VTB hires Deutsche Russian commodities head

Source: www.efinancialnews.com; June 17, 2008   - The head of Deutsche Bank’s Russian commodities business has become the latest senior manager in the German bank’s Moscow office to quit and join the fast growing investment banking operation of VTB. Sergei Timokhovitch, head of Deutsche Bank’s commodities business in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, is joining state-controlled Russian bank VTB as global head of commodities. Timokhovitch joins several former Deutsche Bank colleagues at VTB, which has hired a series of senior staff from the German bank, including the deputy head of its Russian business, Yuri Soloviev, who is now in charge of building the bank’s Moscow-based investment banking operation. VTB is in the process of setting up the business, which will provide commodities financing, structuring and risk management services to the its clients. Soloviev described Timokhovitch as an “acknowledged expert” in the Russian and CIS commodities markets and said he would be responsible for developing VTB’s local market position. Other senior bankers to join VTB from Deutsche Bank this year include the its head of equity trading for Russia CIS, Andrey Girichev, its chief Russian market strategist, Alexei Zabotkin, and Alexey Yakovitsky, head of Russian research. Deutsche Bank was not immediately available to comment.

RenCap doubles employee levels

Source: www.efinancialnews.com; June 23, 2008   - Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital has more than doubled its workforce over the past 18 months and is still hiring, while many of its rivals have been cutting jobs to save costs. Staff numbers at the bank, which specialises in emerging markets including Russia and sub-Saharan Africa, have grown from 500 at the start of last year to about 1,200 as of last week. The bank said: “We have identified huge opportunities to create value in a range of frontier markets around the world, and that has led us to recruit talented people to pursue those opportunities and meet our aggressive targets. We have grown rapidly in the past year or two, against a backdrop of downsizing by many of our competitors.” The bank is opening a distribution hub in Singapore and has hired Merrill Lynch’s former head of Asian equities, Martin Gillott, to run it. The operation will act as a distribution base for Renaissance Group products, focusing on institutional securities and international equity sales. Renaissance, which was founded 13 years ago, joins Russian rivals Troika Dialog and VTB Bank in setting up operations in Singapore and trying to develop links with its investment institutions there. The bank is also applying to Singapore’s regulator for a banking licence and may extend the office’s remit depending on demand. Gillott, who joins Renaissance as managing director and head of distribution Asia, quit Merrill Lynch last year and returned to London. The bank recently launched an operation in Dubai for the roll-out and development of investment banking and asset gathering activities in the Middle East. It also has distribution hubs in London and New York. Renaissance last week advertised to hire directors, vice-presidents, associates and senior analysts in investment banking, for positions based in Moscow and Kiev, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and in Lagos, Nigeria.

Russian Bankers Head Home

Source: www.derivativesweeknews.com; June 20, 2008   - Russian derivative bankers are heading home, tempted by cash bonuses and a boom in the local markets. Recruiters are noting a repatriation of Russian bankers who have been working in the Western markets to both Western firms in Russia and local firms. Senior equity traders or salespeople in Moscow can now expect base salaries of USD200,000 with cash bonuses of USD1-USD1.5 million, according to London-based Veni Partners. Managing directors can command starting packages of USD2-4 million. The drive toward cash bonuses compares to stock-heavy compensation in the U.K.—particularly through the last bonus season, as credit crunch woes hit pay packets. Figures from Merrill Lynch estimate Russia’s monthly over-the-counter volumes for derivatives at almost USD10 billion, as the country established itself as part of the so-called BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India and China] quartet of emerging markets. The appointment of Dmitry Medvedev as president and the smoothing of legal difficulties (DW, 3/31) are also expected to buoy the derivatives market. Deutsche Bank, for example, has just hired Alex Danylenko for its Moscow office from Merrill Lynch in London. Danylenko will be head of local currency bond trading for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Alexander Ponomarenko also started this month as the office’s head of illiquid credit, private equity and real estate. He had been working for a private equity firm in California. Oliver Dick, global markets consultant at Veni, said the flow market is the most active, with main clients being insurers, corporates, hedge funds and wealthy individuals. “Increasingly, the large Russian banks are broadening their coverage of Western clients by selling both equity derivatives and closed end funds into large hedge fund and fund of funds,” he said. Russian banks have traditionally been aggressive hirers. “Western houses in Russia have learnt to follow suit,” Dick said. “They are starting to appreciate the importance of outright cash bonus payments, which are a minimum floor from which to conduct offer negotiations.” Western firms are transferring talent from London and also competing for the best staffers from local firms in Russia.

Morgan Stanley Pockets CS Hedge Fund Sales Maven

Source: www.derivativesweeknews.com; June 19, 2008   - Morgan Stanley has recruited Ben Falloon to boost credit and interest rates structured product sales throughout the Asia ex-Japan region. Falloon will join Morgan Stanley in August. He was head of hedge fund sales at Credit Suisse. Falloon’s will be managing director and based in Hong Kong. He will focus on selling to institutions, corporates, hedge funds and sovereign funds. “This is a big scalp for Morgan as Falloon has a very good reputation with hedge funds in Asia. They love him,” said a Hong Kong-based official. Falloon will report to Vincent Chui, head of institutional equity and fixed income sales for Asia, and Ronnie Roy, regional head of fixed income sales and trading for Asia. An official at Credit Suisse confirmed the departure of Falloon, declining further comment. A Morgan Stanley spokewoman confirmed the appointment but declined further comment. Falloon could not be reached.