BofA Now Biggest Wealth Manager

A new survey found that Bank of America Corp. (BofA) holds the title of the biggest wealth manager through the end of 2008.

Since buying Merrill Lynch & Co., BofA overtook UBS AG for the spot, according to the study of 248 institutions by Scorpio Partnership (see “Bank of America Buys Merrill Lynch). According to a Bloomberg report about the results, BofA managed $1.5 trillion at the end of 2008 compared with $1.39 trillion at UBS. Citigroup Inc., came in third and Wells Fargo & Co. also climbed the ranks to fourth after purchasing Wachovia Corp. (see “Wachovia Leaves Citigroup at the Altar“).

Since the end of 2008, Citigroup’s Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley merged (see “Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is Born“), which is not represented in the data.

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The wealth management industry certainly took a hit in 2008. The financial crisis caused a loss of clients assets in the wealth management industry by 16% to $14.5 trillion, Scorpio said. Wealth managers hired 6% more staff but saw an 8% loss of income.

“Assets are going down and the number of millionaires isn’t increasing,” Scorpio Managing Partner Cath Tillotson told Bloomberg. “It’s worrying that we’ll potentially see a slash-and-burn reaction once banks realize that the net new money isn’t there for them to chase.”

Here are the world’s biggest wealth managers and their assets under management, based on the 2008 data from Scorpio:

  1. Bank of America Corp.: $1,501 billion
  2. UBS AG: $1,393 billion
  3. Citigroup Inc.: $1,320 billion
  4. Wells Fargo & Co.: $1,000 billion
  5. Credit Suisse Group AG: $612 billion
  6. JPMorgan Chase & Co.: $552 billion
  7. Morgan Stanley: $522 billion
  8. HSBC Holdings Plc: $352 billion
  9. Deutsche Bank AG: $231 billion
  10. Goldman Sachs Inc.: $215 billion.

Ex-Goldman Programmer Nabbed in Trade Secret Theft Scheme

A former Goldman Sachs computer programmer was charged with stealing trade secrets based on the theft of computer codes used for automated stock and commodities trading.

According to Reuters, quoting court documents, Sergey Aleynikov was ordered by U.S. Magistrate Kevin Nathaniel Fox to be held in federal custody pending the posting of a bond. FBI agents nabbed Aleynikov, a Russian immigrant living in New Jersey, at Newark Liberty International Airport upon return from Chicago.

While the court documents do not specify the victim financial institution, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters columnist Matthew Goldstein that the company involved is Goldman Sachs.

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In court papers, an FBI agent said Aleynikov worked at an unspecified financial institution as a programer from May 2007 until June 5, when he left to work for a new company focused on high-volume automated trading.

Aleynikov’s wife, Elina, told Reuters on Sunday that her husband worked hard for Goldman and has been a good citizen who has lived in the United States for 19 years.

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