Industry News - October, 2007

HSBC has appointed Patrick Tuohy as global head of sales and marketing for the alternative investment group (AIG).

Mr Tuohy now has responsibility for the sales and marketing performance of the HSBC Alternative Investments fund - which consists of its hedge funds business and its hedge fund advisory business.

His new boss will be HSBC Alternative Investments head Nigel Webber.

"With more than a decade of hedge fund investment experience, including three successful... more...

Universities in the US state of Iowa have been criticised for trying to market credit cards at their students.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller slammed the practice - saying that he can understand why the state universities want to get exclusive agreements with the Bank of America to market the university-branded credit cards - but adding that students can get into financial trouble as a result of the campaigns.

"Respectfully, I'd say the better practice would be to not be... more...

Owners of finance and professional services small businesses should just register any good domain they think of straight away, rather than spending time testing it - or they could risk a competitor using it in their stead.

This is the opinion of Dave Allen, managing director of business IT consultancy CC Technology. He says that website owners should just "snap up" any domain names the second they come up with them.

"If I thought of a [domain] name, and I didn't... more...

Many of the UK's wealthy individuals continue to eschew the private client investment management sector - but private client managers are failing to attract them as a result of their poor marketing programmes, it has been claimed.

Ian Orton, writing for thewealthnet.com, says that the pictures of "queues of people attempting to withdraw their cash deposits" from Northern Rock branches in September, should provide evidence that there are plenty of people in the UK who are finan... more...

Higher-end markets, such as the financial and professional services sectors, are increasingly trying to reach potential customers through multisensory marketing, a new report claims.

A study from research and consulting firm Social Technologies says that the technique is proving an increasingly important marketing method in higher-end markets.

"Many companies are finding that when they engage consumers with multiple sensory touchpoints - not just the traditional sensory ch... more...

Small-and medium sized service-based businesses, such as accountancy and legal firms, can use their size to their advantage, one expert has claimed.

Kate Kozial, president of a Chicago marketing firm, says that smaller firms can narrow their focus to a particular niche in their market - and become a much more attractive brand to potential clients in the process.

"The more narrow your scope, the more valuable your expertise to your clients," she told the Chicago Tribun... more...

Financial providers and insurers wanting to target travellers by destination could find good use in a new in-tunnel advertising system being installed in a tunnel to Heathrow.

A 450-metre stretch of a six-mile tunnel the Heathrow Express train travels through is being fitted with a light emitting diode (LED) display that will deliver 15-second-long adverts to travellers.

The new system has the advantage that it gives advertisers the ability to change the advert being displayed ... more...

Investors and analysts do not know which the top accountancy firms are, the results of a recent study have revealed.

The survey conducted by Ispos MORI showed that many investors and analysts could not name the six largest accountancy firms, with 40 per cent missing out Ernst&Young and 37 per cent unaware that KPMG was in the top bracket as well.

Some 82 per cent of the 100 respondents named PricewaterhouseCoopers as a top six firm by global revenue, marking the brand out a... more...