Harris Allday, as a part of EFG Private Bank Ltd., EFG International’s UK subsidiary, provides wealth management services, primarily to affluent clients, in the Midlands region of the United Kingdom from its main office in Birmingham and its locations in Shrewsbury and London.

With Assets under Management (AuM) totalling approximately GBP 3.1 billion, EFG International generated annual revenue of GBP 20.3 million in 2025 and currently has 77 employees (full-time equivalent).

“EFG International expects the sale to have a positive impact of approximately CHF 20 million on its profit before tax in the second half of 2026 and anticipates it will increase the Group’s CET1 capital ratio by approximately 30 basis points. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026,” the Swiss venture said.

Post the transaction involving Canaccord Wealth, EFG International’s UK Region will focus on its core business in wealth management and private banking serving UK-based and international high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients.

With over 20 billion pounds in AuM, the UK business has remained a key pillar of EFG’s strategy.

Edward James, Harris Allday’s Managing Director, said, “The Harris Allday business has undergone significant transformation under EFG’s ownership, and, as a market-leading wealth manager, Canaccord Wealth is the right fit, with the scale and capabilities, to support the business, our colleagues, and clients going forward. Canaccord Wealth shares Harris Allday’s values, including its belief in creating and maintaining close, enduring relationships with clients.”

Harris Allday was founded in the West Midlands and, with a history spanning over 175 years, remains headquartered there to this day.

After being acquired by EFG in 2006, the business specialized itself further in providing tailored investment solutions to individuals, families, trusts, and charities with a local focus. In that process, the venture has built an outstanding and loyal client base.

It will be a win-win deal for Canaccord Wealth as well, given the latter’s strong and established footprint in the Midlands, where the majority of Harris Allday’s clients and client-facing teams are based.

“In combination with its capacity for growth and its profound understanding of clients, investment management, and financial planning, Canaccord Wealth is well-positioned to continue providing clients with a comprehensive service and wealth management expertise,” the venture said.

The post Zurich-based EFG sells UK wealth management business Harris Allday to rival Canaccord appeared first on International Finance.

Investing in ⁠the Norwegian state’s revenues from oil and gas production, the fund currently owns on average 1.5% of all listed companies globally, making it the world’s largest single investor.

“The result is driven by good returns in the equity market, particularly from Asian technology stocks,” CEO Nicolai Tangen said in a statement accompanying the half-year results.

The fund, while making public the updated list of its holdings, also announced for the first time of holding a 0.05% stake in Elon Musk-led SpaceX worth USD 1.22 billion.

However, the entity has held a 1.28% stake worth USD 62 billion in Nvidia, a 1.24% stake worth USD 52 billion in Apple, a 1.17% stake worth USD 50 billion in Alphabet, a 1.27% stake worth USD 35 billion in ⁠Microsoft and a 1.7% stake worth USD 34 billion in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC).

Overall, the fund has invested in around 7,100 companies globally, apart from pumping money into stocks, property, and ⁠renewable projects.

However, Tangen still sounded cautious, as he said that the wealth fund could still suffer devastating losses and, in an extreme market collapse, potentially disappear altogether if headwinds like geopolitical tensions, trade barriers, and inflated artificial intelligence (AI) valuations continue.

Tangen, chief executive of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the fund, said the extraordinary growth of Norway’s oil fund over the past three decades should not be expected to continue at the same pace.

“Can the oil fund disappear? The answer is yes,” Tangen said in a speech at a political conference in Arendal, southern Norway. He added that, given the current global environment, such an outcome was “not completely improbable.”

The fund was established in 1996 to invest Norway’s oil and gas revenues overseas for the benefit of future generations. Its value has grown from less than two billion Norwegian kroner at inception to more than 22 trillion kroner, or about USD 2 trillion, today.

It invests globally across equities, bonds, property, and renewable infrastructure. The Norwegian government can withdraw up to 3% of the fund’s value annually to help finance public spending, a limit intended to preserve the underlying capital over the long term.

Tangen said the period during which the fund accumulated most of its wealth had been unusual, marked by relatively low inflation, taxes, and interest rates. He cautioned that such conditions could not be assumed to persist.

Among the risks he highlighted were nuclear war, biological terrorism, and a prolonged economic depression triggered by the collapse of an AI investment bubble and an escalating trade conflict between the United States and China.

A severe combination of an AI-led market correction, tariffs, and trade restrictions could produce conditions resembling the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s, Tangen said. Such an environment could wipe out at least 80% of stock market investment values in an extreme scenario.

NBIM’s own risk assessments have also highlighted substantial downside risks. A sharp reversal in AI-related valuations could cause a major decline in the fund, while severe geopolitical tensions and trade restrictions could inflict similarly heavy losses.

The fund has already experienced periods of sharp volatility. It recorded a 1.9% decline in the first quarter of 2026, losing about 636 billion kroner, or roughly USD 68 billion, as technology stocks fell and geopolitical tensions weighed on markets.

Despite his warnings, Tangen said he was not predicting an imminent collapse. He noted that markets continued to rally despite significant negative developments and that companies had become more resilient by strengthening supply chains and contingency systems.

His message was instead one of caution: the extraordinary scale of Norway’s wealth fund makes managing long-term risk essential, particularly as global markets become increasingly concentrated in technology stocks and exposed to geopolitical shocks.

The post Norway wealth fund posts record USD 184 billion profit as CEO warns of risks appeared first on International Finance.

Europe’s largest bank posted a pretax profit of USD 19.5 billion for the first six months of this year, up 23% from USD 15.8 billion seen in H1 2025 and ahead of the analysts’ estimates of USD 18.9 billion.

HSBC’s solid performance now stands as the testimony of its Asian focus, where an overhaul targeting wealth and cross-border banking drove fee income growth alongside a favourable rate backdrop.

“HSBC is becoming the stronger bank we set out to build. We are executing our strategic priorities with pace, precision and discipline. This is allowing our four businesses to focus on their core strengths, grow, work together more effectively and deepen customer relationships. The result is a bank capable of achieving more,” said Georges Elhedery, Group CEO.

The 23% increase in pretax profit primarily reflected a year-on-year net favourable impact of USD 2.2 billion from notable items.

“The increase also reflected growth in banking net interest income (banking NII) and higher fees and other income, primarily in Wealth and Wholesale Transaction Banking (WTB). This was partly offset by higher expected credit losses and other credit impairment charges (ECL) and a planned increase in operating expenses. Profit after tax of USD 15.3 billion was USD 2.9 billion, or 23% higher compared with H1 2025,” HSBC said.

HSBC’s wealth revenue in the first half grew 18% from a year ago, backed by strong growth from its Asian markets. Rival Standard Chartered also announced a forecast-beating first-half profit last week, powered ⁠by a push for fee income.

Despite a wealth crackdown launched by Beijing in May aimed at restricting illegal cross-border flows, account-opening activity remained largely unaffected, Elhedery said during the earnings briefing.

“Hong Kong remains front and centre in the growth of our wealth business in Asia. It is evidenced ⁠by the 640,000 new clients the banking group acquired in the first six months in the market across HSBC and Hang Seng brands,” he added further.

HSBC’s strong H1 performance also concludes a strong earnings season for Europe’s big banks, which have extended a more ⁠than two-year-long recovery thanks to a surge in trading activity and resilient interest income despite dips in central bank rates.

HSBC also lifted its guidance for net interest income for the 2026/27 year. The British financial biggie now expects to exceed USD 46 billion, having previously said it would hit that level.

The lender announced a resumption of its share buybacks with an up to USD 1 billion plan, after pausing them when it announced late 2025 it was taking smaller Hong Kong lender Hang Seng Bank private.

The British multinational also set a second interim dividend of USD 0.1 per share, following a USD 0.1 payout in May.

As HSBC focuses on the Asia region, it has also streamlined its organisation by exiting markets where it lacks scale. In Singapore, it sold its insurance business. In Egypt and Australia, the venture has divested its retail banking and mortgage undertakings.

HSBC’s corporate and institutional banking business also received a further boost from the rising need to serve cross-border clients. The division has become the bank’s ⁠biggest income earner, accounting for a third of the first-half profit.

The bank, which is no longer active in the most buoyant American dealmaking market after earlier exits, has more than 70 initial public offerings (IPOs) lined up in Asia, 40 of which are in Hong Kong, Elhedery told the investors and analysts.

The post HSBC’s Asia strategy boosts H1 profit on strong wealth management growth appeared first on International Finance.

While investments in most private equity, private infrastructure, private real estate and private credit traditionally have been dominated by institutional investors like pension funds, asset managers are now looking to challenge the monopoly by increasingly offering their services to people seeking better returns on their personal wealth.

“One of the new vehicles, the WVB All Markets Fund, will blend public equities, fixed income and index strategies and Blackstone’s private markets offerings, while the WVB Blackstone All Privates ⁠Fund will give access across Blackstone’s platform,” the companies said in a statement.

WVB All Markets Fund will be the multi-asset solution for investors who want to simplify the integration of public and private markets.

“The fund will integrate Wellington’s expertise in active public equities and Vanguard’s strengths in active fixed income and index strategies with exposure to Blackstone’s leading perpetual private markets platform. The fund will trade under the tickers WVBIX, WVBAX, and WVBMX,” the alliance remarked.

WVB Blackstone All Privates Fund, on the other hand, will serve as a professionally managed solution providing a simple access point to Blackstone’s leading perpetual private markets platform, putting private equity, private infrastructure, private real estate, and private credit in a single bracket.

“The new closed-end funds will be available at launch to Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank clients, providing advisors on one of the industry’s leading wealth management platforms with access to the first solutions from the strategic alliance. The alliance also anticipates broad participation and adoption from the RIA community and will explore additional distribution opportunities across the wealth ecosystem over time,” the companies added further.

“Our clients are increasingly seeking broader access to private markets and thoughtful ways to implement these strategies over time. Our scale and integrated platforms are expanding access to differentiated investment opportunities that can support more resilient long-term portfolios,” said Mark Sutterlin, head of alternative investments at Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank.

The solutions will help advisors build more diversified portfolios for high-net-worth and mass-affluent clients in a simplified investment framework. The funds have been tailored to assist advisors in constructing long-term portfolios that seek strong performance, long-term growth, and broad portfolio diversification.

Elaborating more about the product, the allinace said, The WVB All Markets Fund and WVB Blackstone All Privates Fund bring together Wellington’s nearly 100-year heritage of active management, fundamental research, and multi-asset allocation expertise; Vanguard’s 50-year legacy of delivering high-performing active strategies and index funds with a relentless focus on cost efficiency and investor outcomes; and Blackstone’s 40-year track record of cycle-tested performance and leadership position as the world’s largest alternative asset manager and number one provider of private markets solutions for individuals.”

“The launch of the WVB All Markets and WVB Blackstone All Privates Funds reflects the strength of our strategic alliance with Vanguard and Blackstone. By combining our deep active management and asset allocation capabilities with Vanguard’s scale and expertise in fixed income and indexing and Blackstone’s leadership in private markets, we are delivering thoughtfully constructed solutions designed to meet investors’ evolving needs. We are particularly pleased to introduce these funds initially through the powerful Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank platforms,” said Jean M. Hynes, CEO and Managing Partner, Wellington Management.

“For five decades, Vanguard has worked to improve investor outcomes through disciplined active management, low-cost index strategies, and a client-focused approach. Through this collaboration with Wellington and Blackstone, we are extending that mission into integrated public and private market solutions. Launching these funds with Bank of America Private Bank and Merrill is an important first step in expanding access to those solutions,” remarked Greg Davis, President and CIO of Vanguard.

“Blackstone has delivered performance in private markets for individuals for more than two decades, helping them access the premium returns, lower volatility, and diversification that private markets can provide. These new solutions bring together the performance and scale of Blackstone’s private markets platform with the exceptional strengths of Wellington and Vanguard, creating simple and comprehensive access for advisors and their clients to help build long-term wealth,” concluded Jon Gray, President and COO of Blackstone.

The post Alliance of Wellington, Vanguard, Blackstone launches funds targeting wealthy investors appeared first on International Finance.

Upon deal completion, which will also face regulatory scrutiny, Singular Bank will continue to operate as an independent entity in the Spanish private banking market.

The company, which has around 19 billion euro (USD 21.6 billion) in clients’ invested assets, also offers a full range of products and services to high-net-worth individuals. Terming Singular Bank’s offering as “complementary” to its own product lineup, ING said the deal will “accelerate” the Dutch banking conglomerate’s growth in Spain’s private banking and wealth management industries.

Adding that the move fits its “Growing the difference” strategy to offer tailored services for specific client groups, ING remarked, “The two sides will pursue further commercial cooperation in ‘already identified, tangible opportunities’ tied to client and asset growth and strategic insights, as well as access to new business prospects.”

“The companies have also agreed to re-evaluate the ownership structure in the future, with a possibility for ING to lift its stake,” the Dutch venture added further.

ING was in a reported bidding war with Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo for acquiring Singular’s stakes. As per the Financial Times, Warburg Pincus was also in the race, as it sought 300 million for the Spanish company’s full holding.

ING said the transaction, scheduled to be completed by the first quarter of 2027, is expected to have a minimal impact on its CET1 ratio. Singular Bank will continue to be led by its CEO Javier Marin.

Singular, which bought UBS’ Spanish wealth management business in ⁠2021, has around 18 billion euro under management as of Q1 2026. As per the Spanish newspaper Expansion, ING Spain will become part of a consortium of investors in which no single shareholder will hold ⁠more than 50% and which will also include Marin, a Mexican bank, and several family offices, with ING Spain holding the largest stake.

“Marin and the management team will retain part of the shareholding, alongside a number of financial institutions and Spanish investors,” ING stated further.

ING in Spain has been serving retail customers for over 25 years. Apart from offering payments, savings, investments, mortgages, and other lending products to 4.6 million customers, ING Wholesale Banking, since 1982, has also been supporting the growth of large corporates and institutions with tailored and innovative services.

“The investment in Singular Bank complements the earlier announced launch of ING’s own private banking proposition in Spain, which will offer a differentiating model combining digital scale with personal human advice,” the group noted.

ING CEO Steven van Rijswijk said, “The investment in Singular Bank is a natural next step in our strategy aimed at becoming the best European bank by accelerating growth, increasing impact, and delivering value. It is an attractive opportunity for us to enhance our ability to help clients with their varied needs across different points in their lives, while further diversifying our income. We have been impressed with what Javier and his team have built over the past years, and we look forward to working together on the further growth and scaling of Singular Bank, reinforcing our commitment to the exciting Spanish market.”

Javier Marin remarked, “Since our inception, our goal has been to establish Singular Bank as a leader in private banking and asset management, recognized for excellence, innovation, and service tailored to each of our clients. Today we begin a new phase, with a group of new partners and the same ambition. With the continued support and commitment of our team and the trust of our clients, we will expand our presence and our value proposition, with the goal of accelerating our growth and positioning the bank as the leader in private banking in Spain.”

The post Eyeing consolidation in Spain, ING to acquire 40% of wealth manager Singular Bank appeared first on International Finance.

Investors sought to pull 14.4% of shares from the USD 22.6 billion Ares Strategic Income Fund (ASIF) in the second quarter, up from 11.6% in Q1. The fund limited withdrawals to 5% of shares, the customary threshold for ⁠such vehicles.

Wealthy individuals, in 2026, have pulled money from non-traded private credit funds over concerns about lending standards and worries over how software companies that borrowed heavily from direct lenders will navigate the ongoing AI disruption. As per the investment bank Robert A. Stanger, a combined amount of USD 12.9 billion has been pulled from private credit funds in the first five months of this year.

“Most requests were concentrated among a small number of non-US institutions and family offices, representing less than 1% of ASIF’s more than 20,000 shareholders. They accounted for nearly half of second-quarter requests,” the fund said.

Talking about the ongoing crisis in the private credit sector, Ares Management’s industry peer Apollo recently flagged withdrawal requests ‌at ⁠its USD 26 billion private credit fund, moderated from the United States and increased from offshore.

“Nearly two-thirds of repurchase requests at ASIF were submitted by investors who had tendered in the prior quarter,” the venture stated further.

Reacting to the news surrounding ASIF, TD Cowen analyst Bill Katz ⁠said, “Optically, not a great update; however, the devil is in the details, and we are quite encouraged by the finer disclosure,” apart from noting that the pattern of repurchase requests does not suggest widespread angst, while repeat requesters indicate redemption pressures are not building.

“Withdrawal requests from US private wealth investors, ASIF’s largest shareholder segment, represented only 2.4% of ⁠shares and declined 35% from the prior quarter. The segment also accounted for nearly half of second-quarter inflows,” the venture remarked.

Talking about Apollo Global’s USD 26 billion private credit fund, Apollo Debt Solutions (ADS), it has curbed redemptions at 5% of its shares after investors sought to withdraw approximately 16.8% of the total.

“Paying out those investors will bring gross outflows from the fund to USD 700 million, outpacing inflows of USD 300 million, based on preliminary data,” the fund said in a filing. That leaves net outflows worth about 3% of the fund’s asset ⁠value so far in 2026.

Redemption requests rose from about 11.2% in the previous quarter at the fund, which is mainly aimed at wealthy individuals and typically provides an opportunity to withdraw some money once every three months.

“Institutional investors were continuing to show strong demand for private credit. We expect institutional ‌fundraising ⁠for our direct lending strategies will exceed that of the wealth channel this year. There was a notable regional split among investors,” the filing continued, specifying that requests to redeem from the onshore United States “moderated sequentially to approximately 4.3%, while redemptions from offshore investors increased to 12.5%.”

Apollo President Jim Zelter, in May, said he expected continued withdrawals and that the “industry turbulence” ⁠was not over. ADS had returned 1.5% through May 31, comparing with a 1.2% gain in the Morningstar LSTAn index of publicly traded leveraged loans.

Morgan Stanley, another private credit major, has limited redemptions again at its USD 7 billion flagship private credit fund after investors sought to withdraw almost 11.6% of units outstanding.

North Haven Private Income Fund (PIF) said it would meet 43% of Q2 redemption requests after investors sought to withdraw about 10.9% of the fund in the Q1, adding that about half of the latest requests came from investors who had been unable to fully cash out earlier.

“We believe that ⁠both the composition as well as the stabilization in the level of request activity as compared to the first quarter may be indicative of durability in the company’s investor base,” the bank’s investment management arm said in its market notes and filings.

As per Morgan ‌Stanley, the PIF was invested in 301 borrowers across 45 industries as of May 31 and had around 22.7% exposure to the software industry. After accounting for new subscriptions and dividend reinvestments, the net hit to the fund’s net asset value was about USD 102 million, or 3.2% of its ⁠March 31 value.

“Separately, a smaller affiliated fund, North Haven Private Income Fund A, faced 7.2% redemption requests, 5% of which will be honoured at the customary threshold level,” the venture stated further.

The post Ares, Apollo, Morgan Stanley curb withdrawals again, rattling private credit appeared first on International Finance.

However, the study also noted about APAC’s asset and wealth managers managing less than a quarter of regional client assets, compared with nearly 40% in Europe and nearly 60% in North America, underlining the scale of the untapped opportunity.

“The key issue is that Asia-Pacific is not one market, but many: organizations capturing a disproportionate share of the prize will be those that resist the temptation to apply a single regional playbook and make clear choices about where to anchor operations, build capabilities, and serve clients across markets,” the report remarked.

“Singapore’s role in Asia-Pacific asset and wealth management is being shaped by structural advantages that are hard to replicate—HNW destination capital in the region; a deep sovereign wealth base; a progressive regulatory environment helping define tokenized finance; deepening capital markets; and a tax and fund structuring ecosystem built for cross-border capital. Asset and wealth managers cannot be everywhere, all the time, across a region as diverse and fast-moving as Asia-Pacific. They need to make clear choices about where to anchor operations, build capabilities, and serve clients across markets. Singapore is increasingly that platform—a place from which managers can execute regional strategies with credibility, connectivity, and scale,” said Paul Pak, Asia-Pacific and Singapore Asset and Wealth Management leader, PwC Singapore.

The Asian city-state, along with its principal rival, Hong Kong, has sought to attract wealth managers, banks, and family offices as important parts of their economies. The jurisdictions also benefit from a broader rise in the size of Asia’s affluent and HNW (high net worth) population in recent decades.

As per the Capgemini Research Institute in May 2026, Asia-Pacific posted the highest regional growth in wealth of 10.5% and population growth of 9.4%, as semiconductor demand boosted Asian stock markets.

“Japan and China were among the strongest performers, adding 436,000 and 154,000 millionaires, respectively. India and Australia also saw growth, with HNWI populations increasing by 11,300 and 18,100, respectively. In a separate wealth management report, Boston Consulting Group in late May reported that Singapore is the world’s third-largest cross-border wealth center, home to USD 2.1 trillion of such wealth, and slated to grow in this regard by 9% from 2025 to 2030. Hong Kong and Switzerland are equal first, with the former due to overtake the Alpine state in coming years,” the Capgemini Research Institute noted.

“An around 8% compound annual growth rate is forecast for Singapore’s AuM between now and 2030, compared with the region’s 6.8% CAGR forecast overall, making Singapore one of the highest growth markets in APAC. USD 4.6 trillion managed AuM in Singapore makes it one of Asia-Pacific’s two largest international investment hubs. Some 8% of global SWF assets—the second-largest Asia-Pacific sovereign wealth hub,” PwC stated.

“Singapore continues to attract regional capital. It currently hosts 8% of global sovereign wealth fund assets, making it the second-largest Asia-Pacific SWF hub, while also reinforcing its role as a destination for HNW wealth from across the region. Asia-Pacific HNW assets are predicted to reach USD 52.4 trillion by 2030 (6.9% CAGR)—the standout driver of regional client asset growth—much of which is expected to flow through Singapore’s wealth platforms,” it continued further.

Asia-Pacific-based SWFs (sovereign wealth funds) collectively hold USD 5.2 trillion in investable wealth, and around 28% is allocated to alternatives, compared with 34% in North America. The gap is more pronounced for APAC pension funds, which allocate 8% to alternatives versus 37% in North America, pointing to headroom for further growth in private market allocations as regional pools mature,” PwC said.

The PwC report also pointed to a series of government initiatives that are helping Singapore’s wealth management sector to continue its growth momentum and deepen its positions in the capital markets, including the “Equity Market Development Programme,” expanded from SUSD 5 billion (USD 3.89 billion) to SUSD 6.5 billion at budget 2026, with SUSD 3.95 billion being allocated to nine asset managers, alongside a SUSD 1.5 billion top-up to the “Financial Sector Development Fund” and the new SUSD 3 billion “Anchor Fund.”

“Adding to this momentum, a new Central Provident Fund (CPF) life-cycle investment scheme – announced at budget 2026 and set for launch in 2028 – could channel up to SUSD 9 billion annually into Singapore equities, providing a steady liquidity pipeline and deepening the city-state’s capital markets,” the report stated further.

MAS’s (Monetary Authority of Singapore) proposed long-term investment fund framework, as per PwC, will be the potential route for broadening retail access to private markets—covering private equity, private credit, and infrastructure. Private markets in the city-state have risen from 20.3% of Asia-Pacific AWM revenues in 2012 to 55.4% in 2024 and are projected to rise to 59.5% (USD 99.8 billion) by 2030.

“Singapore’s WealthTech ecosystem is one of the most developed in Asia-Pacific, with homegrown digital investment platforms reshaping the way retail and HNW clients access wealth services,” the firm said. With 77% of Asia Pacific AWM organizations citing technology and digital disruption as the leading megatrend reshaping the industry, Singapore’s digital infrastructure is positioning the city-state as a model that is now being replicated across the region,” PwC concluded.

The post Singapore to remain one of APAC’s wealth management’s bright spots, says report appeared first on International Finance.

With clients in wealth management, banking, and insurance, the venture’s technology enables banks and wealth managers to rapidly design and launch wealth propositions that boost advisor productivity, orchestrate investment propositions, and provide consistent client experiences at scale.

“With an extensive global client base in the wealth space, Temenos will benefit from Additiv’s native mass-affluent capabilities and AI-enabled orchestration layer. The company’s fast, low-risk implementation model offers deployments in as little as 3-6 months compared to the industry standard of 12 months. With a high Net Promoter Score (NPS) above 90, Net Revenue Retention (NRR) of 138%, and double-digit growth over the past three years, Additiv will enable Temenos to expand its client footprint within investment services in both developed and emerging markets, as well as provide Temenos’ wealth clients with future-ready, front office workflows,” Temenos commented.

“This acquisition strengthens our wealth proposition at a time when we see strong, growing demand for our products across tiers and geographies in the wealth segment, with financial institutions increasingly focused on launching scalable hybrid wealth models. Additiv’s orchestration capabilities complement our market-leading platform and support our strategy to help clients deliver personalised, regulatory-compliant wealth services efficiently and at scale. Together, Additiv’s AI-powered orchestration capabilities and Temenos’ existing front-end solutions create strong differentiation at the banking experience layer,” said Additiv founder Michael Stemmie.

Temenos, on the other hand, offers a core banking suite, along with modular, composable solutions, to help banks and other financial institutions modernise their operations. Deployable on-premises, via the cloud, or as a SaaS solution, Temenos’ technology empowers financial institutions of all sizes to deliver innovative, AI-enhanced experiences to their customers. Founded in 1993 and based in Switzerland’s Geneva, Temenos, as of June 2026, serves more than 950 core banking and 600 digital banking clients. Thibault de Tersant is Temenos’ chairman, while Takis Spiliopoulos is the venture’s chief executive officer (CEO) and interim chief financial officer (CFO).

Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland and founded in 1998, additiv offers an API-first, cloud-based financial services orchestration platform that enables financial institutions and brands to launch, automate, and scale financial services from a singular solution. Having institutional clients in domains like wealth management, banking, credit, and insurance, Additiv’s technology allows businesses to expand their own offerings and introduce third-party products and services to their customers without having to replace core systems.

In early 2026, Additiv launched a new dedicated solution to help Germans navigate planned reforms to the country’s pension scheme. The reform calls for a new state-subsidised retirement investment account (Altersvorsorgedepot) that is offered digitally as a simplified, standardised solution, Standarddepot. Millions of legacy pensions (so-called ‘Riester’ contracts) will be migrated to the new pension product, creating new urgency for institutions that seek to attract or simply retain these customers,” the venture noted.

“This reform marks a genuine paradigm shift for German private pensions. For the first time, capital market-based products are sitting at the heart of state-subsidised retirement savings. Institutions that are now establishing scalable digital infrastructure will secure long-term customer relationships—and with millions of Riester contracts up for migration, the window to act is open,” added CEO Nils Frowein.

The post Consolidation in Switzerland’s wealth management space as Temenos acquires Additiv appeared first on International Finance.

The survey, conducted between January and late March of 2026, saw about two-thirds of family offices covered by the Swiss bank predicting weakening confidence in the dollar as a reserve currency over the year. However, since then, the dollar started to outperform ⁠many of its global peers.

“The dollar’s depreciation in the year before the survey was conducted has prompted many family offices to review their portfolios, with almost half concluding they are overexposed to the US currency across asset classes,” said UBS strategist Maximilian Kunkel.

“While plans to reduce exposure to dollar-denominated assets reflect a wider reconsideration of US-centric portfolios, family offices plan to add emerging ‌market ⁠stocks and infrastructure while trimming real estate holdings,” UBS noted.

“For the first time, we are feeling that family offices want to build up in Asia Pacific and, to a certain degree, also in Western Europe. That mainly ⁠affects family offices outside the United States, but we are also seeing signs that a very limited part of the de-dollarization move is coming from U.S. family ⁠offices,” UBS executive Benjamin Cavalli said.

Among the surveyed family offices, geopolitical conflict has now emerged as the top concern by a wide margin, prompting the entities to combine asset allocation shifts with multishoring strategies. Under multishoring, family offices span their activities across jurisdictions.

While North America currently accounts for 53% of the family office portfolio allocations, as per the UBS survey, that dominance is steadily eroding, with investors now expressing growing interest in Asia-Pacific (including Greater China) and Western Europe as alternative destinations for capital deployment. In terms of asset class shifts, there has been a definitive tilt toward emerging market equities, gold, and infrastructure.

The post Richest families trim portfolio exposure to dollar, finds UBS appeared first on International Finance.

Christl Novakovic, currently heading the EMEA wealth business, will move to the Middle East in late 2026. Niels Zilkens, regional head of wealth management, will relocate to Doha, as per an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.

“The Middle East is central to our growth ambitions, offering significant long-term opportunities for both our business and our clients,” said UBS global co-head of wealth management Iqbal Khan and Middle East president Beatriz Martin Jimenez in the memo.

Christl Novakovic, also known as Christine Novakovic, chairs UBS Global Wealth Management EMEA, the UBS Art Board and the philanthropic UBS Optimus Foundation Europe. After serving the Swiss major between 1992 and 1996, she rejoined it in 2011 as Head of Corporate and Institutional Clients and took on additional responsibility as Head of Investment Bank Switzerland in 2014.

Apart from serving the UBS, she also had a brief stint at HypoVereinsbank AG, where she served as a member of the Group Executive Committee, handling leadership roles in the group’s private banking, retail banking and asset management divisions.

Novakovic’s rich profile also includes being the chair of the CEO of Citibank’s consumer and retail bank in Germany. During her eight years with the American firm, donned several regional and global roles within the corporate and investment bank in Frankfurt and Hong Kong.

Zilkens, another UBS veteran, possesses over two decades of leadership experience in the banking and financial sector, apart from being a recognised expert in wealth management, private banking, and global markets. As Head of Wealth Management Middle East at UBS (since 2023), he currently leads a team dedicated to delivering tailored financial solutions to high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), family offices, and institutional clients based in the region.

Zilkens, through his leadership capability and industry expertise, has helped UBS to extend its presence and provide world-class investment strategies and wealth planning across the multiple financial hubs in the Gulf region, including the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. Before being elevated as the head of Wealth Management Middle East, Niels held several senior leadership positions at UBS, Credit Suisse and Clariden Leu, covering European and Middle Eastern clients.

Toby Vogel will lead WM Europe Domestic, SE, Monaco, Spain & Portugal, UK, Jersey & Guernsey. He will also continue in the role as CEO of UBS Europe SE (a major German-incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary of UBS Group).

Carl von Wrede will head GFIW EMEA (Global Family Office and Institutional Wealth Solutions), covering both international and European domestic.

Vogel, who joined UBS in 2004, went on to handle leadership responsibilities across departments like Equity Sales and Sales Trading, International Cash Equities Distribution Europe, EMEA Equities Distribution, EMEA Equities and EMEA Equities Distribution, EMEA Equities and Equities Distribution, Global Wealth Management Germany, Investment Bank, Global Wealth Management Germany, Italy and France, Asset Management Europe SE and Wealth Management Europe SE, before becoming the CEO of UBS Europe SE in 2024.

Along with Vogel, Gianluca Gera, another UBS veteran, will now be handling the combined WM Europe International division, bringing together the Northern and Southern regions. Gera, who previously served JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Nomura, joined UBS in 2010, following which he handled leadership responsibilities within the Swiss giant’s wealth management verticals.

WM Eastern Europe, Israel, Africa & Overseas will be headed by Katya Lehmann.

The leadership moves follow recent high-profile departures of senior Gulf wealth bankers, including some hired not more than two years ago. The departures included bankers Rana Al Imam and Ali Khonji, hired from HSBC in 2024. The bank had hired Al Imam to expand its business in Abu Dhabi, while Khonji had been tasked with running its wealth unit in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

In response, UBS recently appointed Borja Martinez-Laredo to lead its Abu Dhabi office, immediately after announcing the opening of a new branch there. The bank maintains additional Gulf operations in Dubai, Riyadh, Qatar, and Bahrain.

Novakovic, a UBS veteran for over 15 years, stated that the EMEA wealth business will be organised into five coverage sectors from 1st June, allowing her to focus on supporting the Middle East team’s growth initiatives.

The post UBS relocates senior executives to boost Middle East wealth business appeared first on International Finance.