Deals & People January 20, 2010

McCann Names Former Merrill Exec to Head UBS Advisory Group

Robert McCann, CEO of UBS Wealth Management Americas, has filled out the firm’s leadership team with former Merrill Lynch executives, according to news reports.
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McCann, the former president of Global Wealth Management at Merrill Lynch, is now making his mark at UBS, which he joined in October (see “McCann in to Head UBS Wealth Management”). Dow Jones reported that McCann announced in an internal memo Tuesday that Bob Mulholland, a 25-year Merrill veteran, will replace Jamie Price as head of UBS’ Wealth Management Advisor Group. Mulholland will be responsible for the firm’s advisory strategy and will lead UBS’ brokerage force. Price will move to an advisory role at the firm, while he considers “new career opportunities,” the memo said.

McCann also named Brian Hull to the newly created position of head of Wealth Management Partnerships as UBS changes the structure of some of its brokerage divisions, according to the news report. Before joining UBS in November, Hull was most recently head of Merrill’s Private Bank and Investment Group.

John Brown, a 29-year Merrill veteran, will serve in a new role as head of Wealth Management Solutions, responsible for product platform development and strategy, according to the report. Jim Hausmann, previously interim head of Products and Services, will take a leadership role in the new Wealth Management Solutions organization, reporting to Brown.


Products January 19, 2010

Chartwell Emerging Markets Offering Excludes China, Vietnam

Chartwell Partners has launched an emerging markets investment product that excludes China and Vietnam.
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The company, which describes itself as an exchange-traded funds (ETF) and emerging markets specialist with offices in Boulder and Colorado Springs, Colorado, said in a news release that the Chartwell Emerging Markets Free Ex China portfolio includes 15 countries from the MSCI Emerging Market index.

As proxies for each market, country-specific ETFs  are used with all countries equally weighted. The countries are: India, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Israel, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Malaysia, Thailand, and Columbia, Chartwell said.

“This portfolio is for advisers and investors who want to capture emerging market growth but are uncomfortable with China’s political system or China risk,” said Chartwell president Carl Delfeld, in the announcement. “The emerging market story is bigger than any one country.”

Delfeld said the basket of 15 emerging market country ETFs in the Chartwell Emerging Markets Free Ex China is, over the past year, up 105% versus 87.6% for the MSCI Emerging Market index. Over the past three years it is up 33.4% versus 20.2% for the MSCI index.

More information is available at www.chartwelladvisor.com.

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