Wealth-Bulletin.com

Degroof Bank, Belgium's largest private bank, is been linked to the possible acquisition of French wealth manager Aforge Finance, according to a report in the French publication Challenges.

A spokesman for Degroof was unwilling to comment on the report.

Degroof already has a presence in the French wealth management market through its 49.9% share of Philippe Patrimoine, a Paris-based wealth manager.

Wealth-Bulletin.com

BNP Paribas (Suisse) said it recorded a pre-tax profit of SFr884.7m in 2007, a 49.2% rise on the previous year figure.

The Geneva-based bank said it was the best profit result since the bank has been active in Switzerland, which has been more than a hundred years.

The private banking business of BNP Paribas in Switzerland -which employs around 600 people - saw a SFr1.7bn increase in net new money last year to bring assets under management to SFr43bn.

Pascal Boris, chief executive of BNP Paribas (Suisse), said the bank is actively looking to grow its private banking operations in the country and is currently looking at acquisition possibilities.

Financial News Online

Lehman Brothers liquidated three of its short-duration fixed income funds as its net income declined 57% in the first quarter year-over-year, according to a regulatory filing.

Lehman Brothers brought onto its balance sheet the assets of the three funds, whose fair value totals about $1bn (ˆ635m).

The bank also purchased assets valued at about $800m from certain other funds, whose details were not disclosed.

In the filing, Lehman said the investments held by the funds were either downgraded by rating agencies or declined in fair value because of “market disruptions that occurred in the second half of the 2007 fiscal year and further deterioration in the 2008 quarter,” which ended on February 29.

The bank said the assets will be managed within its fixed-income capital markets division, whose net revenues declined from $2.2bn in last year’s first quarter to just $300m this year, a loss of 88%.

Lehman said: “This decline corresponds to the dislocation in the broader credit markets, deterioration in the residential and commercial mortgage and acquisition finance asset classes and overall market illiquidity.”

Overall, the bank posted net income of $500m in the first quarter, a 57% decline from the $1.1bn it posted in last year’s first quarter.

The bank’s investment management division was a bright spot, gaining 39% over last year’s fourth quarter with net revenues of $1bn. The division manages assets of $277bn.

Lehman recently raised $4bn through a preferred stock offering to bolster its balance sheet and reassure investors who had been worried about the bank’s liquidity position following the takeover of rival Bear Stearns by JP Morgan.

A Lehman spokesman declined to comment.