Wealth management has become the focus of both fund management groups and stand-alone banking divisions.

Barclays man makes move to Credit Suisse in search of private banking Holy Grail.

Ruwan Weerasekera and Timothy Dowd summarise the results of a new survey of the mass affluent and identify why financial companies’ recent strategies have not met expectations.

Investment banks are attempting to build bridges with private banks, which are seeking new ways of satisfying high net worth individuals as the performance of traditional products weakens.

High net worth investors who have added hedge funds to their portfolios have made money in the past year’s bear market.

Collateralised debt obligations offer exposure to esoteric asset classes such as high yield corporates and leveraged loans.

The simplicity of convertible bonds has attracted new, higher credit quality companies, writes Michael O’Connor.

Elizabeth Cripps traces the history of fund supermarkets, profiles the main European platforms and goes investment shopping with our panel of European bankers.

We asked three European experts how they would spend E100,000 (or Ł100,000) in a funds supermarket for a conservative investor with a balanced strategy.

Whether investing directly or through a fund, at least the rent never goes down, writes Roxane McMeeken.

Unlike their US counterparts, high net worth individuals in Europe have largely steered clear of private equity, writes Henry Smith. Investment in this alternative asset class has been left to institutional investors.

Investors are moving in numbers towards hedge funds, as they look to profit from volatile markets.

In the UK, the wealthy are liable for a number of taxes on investment gains. John Battersby outlines some of the liabilities in an increasingly complex taxation system.

Intensifying market competition is increasing the pressure on asset managers to maintain high levels of service to high net worth clients. The benefits of using IT can be critical to success in this area, says Francesco Maffei

The ability to buy investment products over the Internet has resulted in more transactions taking place without advice, which can mean an increase in risk for private investors. Gerry O’Kane reports.