TALLINN - GILD Bankers Partners decided to close its private banking business line that provided over the past two years portfolio management and other financial consultancy services, mostly to Estonian and Lithuanian high net worth individuals, reports news agency LETA. Despite the financial crisis, the money managers managed to maintain positive returns for their clients in 2008 and the first half of 2009.
An increasingly difficult economic environment, however, has made it difficult to develop the business further and bring in new clients, says bank management.
Managing Partner Rain Tamm said that "challenging times compel difficult choices." He says the "Financial crisis started to influence our newest business line at the time when we had finalized implementation of a suitable infrastructure and assembled a highly professional team. Involving new clients became more difficult, as our target group is currently channeling their liquid assets elsewhere, for example, to raise capital in their own companies. We've made a strategic decision to cut back the private banking business."
Tamm adds that the company wants to "maintain and raise the quality of services [we provide], and we would need a much larger team. However, we have decided to focus on our two established business lines."
Head of the private banking managing team Martin Hendre says that "I am especially pleased that over the course of our operations, we have successfully advised several high net-worth investor groups in the Baltics on their tactical portfolio allocation and securities selection, covering a global universe of global equities and other asset classes. Especially in 2008, we were able to provide value to clients by protecting their investment portfolios from significant value declines over the course of the financial crisis, as well as to later position their portfolios to take advantage of the easing of the crisis [going into 2009-2010]."
Hendre will move to Danske Capital Estonia, where he managed investment activities prior to joining GILD in 2007. GILD continues with two business lines, investment banking and management of alternative funds, which were established in 1999.
