Consulting for Management

In addition to our recruitment services we offer Chief Executives and Senior Managers an independent point of view at a reasonable cost. We have first-hand experience of the international Capital Markets and the Investment Management Industry that goes back nearly 50 years and we have worked and lived in most leading financial centres.

This makes us a logical choice if you look for help when  you want to improve your market penetration, control your risk profile or costs or integrate a new acquisition.

Experience in working in different cultures also may help the international business deal with conflicts and challenges arising out of the mixing of different nationalities in the business.

To hire expensive outside help should be seen as a last resort - and in many cases an admission of failure. The usual consulting buzzwords just cover up one simple fact: the client is very often paying for advice that has been pulled together from earlier assignments by young and inexperienced staff.

People are the most important asset in any Financial Service Business and the link between the Consulting and Recruitment side of our business gives us a unique edge in helping you to succeed.


Contact us for a preliminary discussion!
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ESG: 'Integrate or Die' issue for active managers?

Not sure I agree with the author. ESG investing is around for more than 20 years. Suddenly it is all the rage and should dominate the investment world? But should it not really be the task of governments to set rules and laws that protect the environment, the work place and related social issues? Why should activists of all colours and the fund management industry set the standards? If the laws are insufficient then they should be changed in a democratic fashion. By giving in to noisy activists the fund management industry only heaps more costs and expenses on the end investor - real people that already suffer from minuscule returns due to QE.
5-Oct-2019

Texas Teachers: New Fee Model for Hedge Funds

Will 1+30 become the new standard? Relating the higher performance fee to some kind of hurdle rate is the problem. Which rate is suitable? And if is is some money market rate this is particularly problematic. At present rates are so low that beating them would not be that onerous. And if rates are high, 6, 7 or 8 pct, then the hurdle is difficult to overcome
20-Mar-2017
 

Merger Poker - EFG, BTG Pactual and BSI Lugano

There is lots of talk about the need to get bigger in the Financial Services Industry. But there are plenty of potholes on the route to 'Bigger and Better'. Apart from accounting and valuation issues the question of contrasting management cultures can also pose significant integration risks. Do not write off smaller competitors or even nimble mid-sized Asset Managers or Private Banks. 15-Mar-2017
Joe Strähle verrechnete sich mal kurz um 41% - Inside Paradeplatz

Credit Suisse: Old wine in new bottles?

Sad as it is to see a proud Swiss institution (again) unable to find a local candidate to fill the vacancy at the top of the organisation I watch with interest the first pronouncements of its newly-installed CEO. But apart from the unresolved question of whether or not it is wise to combine the business of banking with asset management (there is a strong argument in favour of independent asset managers) it is quite an irony that Credit Suisse is now supposed to find salvation in asset management - after having shed quite a few parts of the business during the past few years. And do the private banking clients really want to be 'cross-sold' the goodies that the investment bankers are 'incentivised' (to put it mildly) to create for them?
Tidjane Thiam may have done a creditable job at Prudential but he was promoted in March 2009, at the very bottom of the bear market. Talking of good timing!

How realistic is a 15% ROE target?

Under CEO Josef Ackermann Deutsche Bank was targetting a return on equity of 25%. This number always looked wildly ambitious to us and not very helpful for two reasons: setting such a high target creates a sense of failure if it is missed, even when the number achieved may be quite respectable. There is nothing wrong with 13, 14 or 15% but it would be seen as missing the target. The high hurdle rate could also have negative consequences as it pushes staff to do deals that are not prudent just in order to 'make their number' for the performance review. This is particularly dangerous in banking were sound practices should first of all be concerned with the return of capital. When Deutsche Bank aims for a more realistic ROE target of 15% under Ackermann's successor we can only hope that this number does not turn out to be as elusive as the previous target.
5-Dec-2011

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