A night at the Rosengart museum

I joined our visitors from the Singapore Masters in Wealth Management faculty for their private tour of the Rosengart Collection, Lucerne, on Friday March 7th.

The collection of classic modernist artists includes 125 works by Paul Klee and more than 50 by Pablo Picasso, including a portrait of Rosengart Foundation Co-founder and President Angela Rosengart, painted by Picasso in 1964.

Tomorrow evening the students will hear a presentation entitled "Art as an investment" by UBS art investment expert and Managing Director, Head of Art Banking, Gold & Numismatics Dr. Karl Schweizer.

Arrival of Singapore Wealth Management MSc participants

Mutual exchange of interests in Lucerne

Mutual exchange of interests in Lucerne

The Swiss study block of the Singapore Masters in Wealth Management MSc is now well under way.

SFI Director of Executive Education Harry Hurzeler began the study block with a presentation on business and marketing strategies in wealth management.

Geoff Marsh of Dansam LTD is currently presenting on the client advisory process.

The students bring great enthusiasm. In addition to course work, they have already had to prepare group presentations and have evaluated and discussed these presentations.

The students have also been enjoying the elements. Snow falls during the middle of the week have turned Lucerne into the image of a traditional Swiss chocolate box.

As they enjoyed a brief outing into the snow during the afternoon coffee break yesterday, the students had a look of surprise that can only be experienced when one has been living in 30 degree heat and high humidity just days before.

This program is about mutual understanding. It is an opportunity to learn from one another and to discuss the demands of professional wealth management.

Arrival of Singapore Wealth Management MSc participants

Arrival of Singapore Wealth Management MSc participants

On March 2nd, more than 50 participants of the Singapore MSc in Wealth Management program arrived in Switzerland for a two week study block jointly organised by Singapore Management University, Singapore-based Wealth Management Institute and the Swiss Finance Institute.

Program Director Professor Francis Koh and Wealth Management Institute CEO Annie Wee have also made the journey to Lucerne, where most of the Swiss program will be held.

The visitors attended a welcome event (see picture) at the Lucerne Culture Centre (KKL) sponsored by Bank Julius Baer.

I'll be reporting on the visit throughout the next two weeks.

Accumulated wealth continues

McKinsey analysts Miklos Dietz, Robert Reibestein and Cornelius Walter recently published a forecast for the future fortunes of the banking industry, and predict further growth.

Despite recent corrections in the financial services sector, the authors believe an ongoing accumulation in wealth will double banking revenues and profits by 2016.

Banking outpaced the effusive energy sector in after tax profits in 2006 ($788B versus $617B).

My eyes are on the shift in the historical trend for global banking profits as a percentage of total corporate profits.

The 70s, 80s and early 90s drew the line at 6%, yet McKinsey's forecast sees a continuation of better times for banking, with a 9%+ share in global profits holding steady for the foreseeable future (insert).

The Economist mentions SFI Energy and Emission Trading Course

Economist.com refers to our new energy and emission trading course, part of the Geneva Executive Courses in Finance, in its monthly feature about News from the Schools.

"The emergence of markets for carbon-dioxide emissions, signalled by the European Union’s launch of an emissions-trading scheme in 2005, has resulted in a knock-on market for executive-education courses on the anticipated trade. ...Another notable emissions-trading programme is a four-day course at the Swiss Finance Institute"

The Swiss Finance Institute Energy and Emission Trading course was launched in January with a presentation by emissions trading expert Andrei Marcu.

Everybody needs good neighbours

Corriere del Ticino have published a letter by SFI Professor Giovanni Barone-Adesi about recent frictions between Germany and Liechtenstein.

Barone-Adesi comments that Germany's approach to obtaining bank account information from Liechtenstein will do nothing for neighbourly relations between the two countries.

Swiss banking in the balance

Weltwoche Economics Editor Claude Baumann discusses Switzerland's banking reputation in the wake of the UBS writedowns in a recent opinion piece.

Baumann is a frequent international commentator on Swiss banking. "Switzerland's banking tradition is about preserving and protecting wealth; it's not about doing deals," explained Baumann last year in the International Herald Tribune.

A pillar in Switzerland's banking pantheon, no one could have predicted that UBS was conducting its US investment banking activities with such imprudence as to lose 16 billion francs.

Baumann invites us to consider: Can a bank expect a second chance to deal with this kind of loss?