Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce

In association with A Proposito Internacional

Is hosting the following 2 day programme on Powerful Presentations details as follows:

We can´t promise you´ll overcome your phobia of poisonous invertebrates, but we can provide you with the tools and techniques that will ensure you can deliver Powerful Presentations that enable you to create persuasive messages and deliver them effectively and confidently.

For further information click here:

http://www.aproposito.com.es/#!powerful-presentations

Course Details:
Date: Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th June 2013

Time: 9.00am to 5pm. (light lunch included in course fee)

Venue: Chamber of Commerce, Watergate House, 2/6 Casemates
Course fee: £500 per person for Chamber members, (£550 per person for non-members)

To reserve your space please email your request to the Chamber on sm@gibraltarchamberofcommerce.com.

If you have any questions please call the Chamber on 200 78376.

Dedicated to demonstrating the importance of a wide global reach in today’s economic climate, Credit Suisse recently delivered another excellent industry seminar by once again bringing the expertise of Global Investment Specialists to speak in Gibraltar. The event was entitled Multi Asset Class Solutions: Managing Insurers’ Financial Needs and the bank invited esteemed representatives from all the major local insurance groups. The event focused on the bank’s discretionary investment strategies underpinning the insurance sector and the value of building relationships between these two key industry sectors within Gibraltar.

After an enjoyable and buoyant exchange of views over welcome drinks and canapés at the prestigious Credit Suisse offices in Marina Bay, the guests were invited to listen to a presentation from Laura Howe and Dominic Barnes, industry authorities on investment portfolio management.

Laura Howe is part of the Credit Suisse product specialist team, providing investment solutions for specialist institutional and private ultra-high net worth discretionary mandates across the UK, Gibraltar and Channel Islands.

Prior to joining Credit Suisse in 2008, Laura Howe worked for Collins Stewart Stock Broking & Asset Management. Laura holds a BA (Hons) in Economics from Trinity College Dublin and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments.

Dominic Barnes, the local Chief Investment Officer of Multi Asset Class Solutions (MACS) UK, was delighted to be invited to speak as he holds a warm affiliation for the Rock due to a historic Gibraltar family background.

A highly respected industry professional, Dominic has over 25 years experience in London and New York, having begun his career in fixed income with Societe Generale Strauss Turnbull in 1986.

Before moving to Credit Suisse in 2002, as Fixed Income Portfolio Manager for the market area and lead manager for all Premium Fixed Income mandates, Dominic was a fixed Income specialist with Merrill Lynch.

Among his many accreditations, Dominic holds the General Certificate of the International Capital Markets Association and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder.

Speaking of the event Kerry Blight CEO told B2B, “We are delighted with the amount of interest we receive from people wanting to attend our regular seminars. It is important, with the current global economic climate that we continue to enhance our industry capabilities and progress Gibraltar as an established and desirable finance centre, across all financial services. Informative and educational seminars arranged by a global finance industry leader such as Credit Suisse, strive to reinforce and strengthen Gibraltar’s position as a whole.”

HM Government of Gibraltar is pleased to announce the hiring of two Senior Executives to work in the Ministry of Financial Services’ Finance Centre Department under the direction of the Finance Centre Director, James Tipping. The Senior Executives will assist in the development of the Insurance and Private Client sectors.

Responsibility for new business development in Insurance falls to Mr Michael Ashton. Mr Ashton worked in the City of London in the insurance industry for 15 years until 2002, where he held a number of senior management roles including Chief Operating Officer of ACE Global Markets, at the time, the largest insurance syndicate in the Lloyd’s Market. Since 2002 he has been involved in early stage businesses including a motor vehicle insurance company headquartered in Gibraltar. Mr Ashton is a qualified chartered accountant.

Paul Astengo joins the Finance Centre Department with the task of promoting growth in the Private Client sector. Paul has over 30 years banking experience gained in various offices of Barclays in Gibraltar, Spain and London and more recently with NatWest Offshore in Gibraltar. He has had a wide variety of roles in both the domestic and international spheres and he has gained extensive experience in executive and high net worth markets. A Gibraltarian by birth he returned to Gibraltar in 2000.

The Minister with responsibility for Financial Services, the Hon. Gilbert Licudi QC said that the Government was fulfilling another significant manifesto commitment by the hiring of these individuals. “This is yet another sign of how committed the Government is to the development of and growth in the financial services industry in Gibraltar. I am delighted to welcome Mr Ashton and Mr Astengo as they join the Finance Centre Department’s team.” Arrangements are in hand for the hiring of a further Senior Executive for the Finance Centre Department who will be responsible for the development of the Funds sector.

NatWest in Gibraltar has appointed David Bruce as its new Regional Director.

David has more than 20 years’ experience in the corporate banking sector with NatWest’s parent organisation, RBS Group in the UK, and most recently at RBS International. His previous post was Senior Relationship Director at RBS International in Guernsey where his clients included large private equity funds in the financial institutions sector. Before moving to Guernsey, David spent several years in the Large Corporate sector at RBS’s corporate office in Yorkshire.

Graeme Smith, Director of Corporate Banking, RBS International added:

‘David has been appointed to a key position within RBS International as our new Regional Director of NatWest Gibraltar. His wide ranging banking experience and particularly his close working relationship with corporate firms including financial institution clients, makes David the ideal candidate to take the helm in Gibraltar.’

David Bruce added:  ‘I am delighted to have been appointed as Regional Director, notably in the 25th year of the Bank’s presence in Gibraltar. I am looking forward to developing our business in Gibraltar and working with the Bank’s long established, experienced teams in delivering high quality client service to both local resident customers and the corporate sector.’

David is married with four children and his family is in the course of relocating to Gibraltar

Julian Cabedo has recently been appointed to the role of Business Development and Marketing Manager at Restsso’s.

 Julian obtained an honours degree in International Marketing in England and brings over 20 years of solid international experience with him.  He has held various senior positions in marketing and communications developing both strategic and creative business solutions for his clients.  He speaks English, Spanish and French and enjoyed developing his European skills working in London, Paris and Madrid.  Most recently he has been running his own consultancy in Madrid before finally returning home to Gibraltar in 2012.

Throughout his career he has been fortunate enough to have worked with most of the leading brands that Restsso’s distributes as well as with many international corporate clients.  His expertise in branding will prove a great asset in his new role.

“I am very proud to be joining the very professional team at Restsso’s and look forward to meeting the new challenges of building on the excellent work they have been doing for the last 50 years in Gibraltar, no mean feat!” Julian told B2B.

“We are very happy to welcome Julian to the Restsso team and his extensive experience will be of great value for our next stage of development” John Paul Risso told B2B

Gibtelecom has announced that it has recently entered into a strategic communications partnership with Monaco Telecom, part of the Cable and Wireless Communications group. The partnership marks a further step on Gibtelecom’s journey to becoming a global communications carrier. Monaco and Gibraltar are now directly connected as both places are landing stations on the Europe India Gateway (EIG) submarine cable, and the arrangement sees Gibtelecom becoming a communications carrier of choice for Monaco Telecom. Concurrently Gibtelecom is to lease capacity from Monaco Telecom to provide it with a new communications access route to the European market.

Gibtelecom’s CEO Tim Bristow said “this mutually beneficial deal strengthens a longstanding friendship between both companies. The partnership means that, as well as Monaco Telecom leasing some capacity on the EIG cable, Gibtelecom separately acquires a diverse international route to other European destinations, transiting Monaco through the EIG landing station there. This will be the first time in over a century that a communications link from Gibraltar has headed directly east by sea from Gibraltar”. Gibtelecom’s International Director, Rab Paramothayan, added that “it is exciting to see Gibtelecom’s international business taking off as the Company expands its global network of business partners. There is already other EIG business in the pipeline which will cement Gibtelecom’s position as a small but established international communications player.”

Martin Peronnet, CEO of Monaco Telecom, said “our companies have been able to leverage their mutual trust into a strong long term partnership. EIG has turned Monaco into a key gateway between Europe and the African and Asian continents. This deal will provide direct and secure access to even more international destinations for our customers and partners. It will further increase Monaco Telecom’s presence in the international data communication market”. Richard Faucheux, Monaco Telecom’s Director of Carrier Services, said “this contract further cements Monaco as a popular alternative to Marseille as a landing station of choice for carriers wishing to minimise latency and maximise diversity towards key European destinations such as Milan, Frankfurt, Paris and Zurich.”

Gibtelecom is one of the founding members of the EIG consortium, which since 2011 has operated a 15,000km high bandwidth state-of-the-art fibre optic submarine cable from London (UK) to Mumbai (India). The EIG cable has thirteen landing points, including Gibraltar and Monaco, and spans three continents. The EIG cable landing in Monaco extends to a landing station in Marseille, which is a major European communications hub. Tim Bristow said, “this cable system not only provides Gibtelecom with significantly enhanced route diversity and resilience, to complement its extant terrestrial and other sea routes, but has placed the Company in a position to seek business opportunities outside Gibraltar through capacity and bandwidth sales.”

Gibtelecom is the main communications provider in Gibraltar, offering fixed line, mobile, internet and broadband services, together with business enterprise solutions and being the Rock’s largest data centres provider.  In addition, Gibtelecom is a global communications carrier through its investment in the EIG cable and various partnerships with other telecommunications companies.  Gibtelecom is a joint venture company owned by Telekom Slovenije and the Gibraltar Government.

Monaco Telecom is Monaco’s only full service telecoms operator and is strongly committed to providing residents of the Principality with the latest services and high quality customer service. It is owned by Cable & Wireless Communications (49%) and the Government of Monaco (45%). The final share of the company (6%) is held in trust by the Compagnie Monégasque de Banque. Monaco Telecom is the leading provider of mobile services and sole provider of fixed line, broadband and pay TV.  Monaco Telecom is building high quality mobile and broadband services in emerging markets. It has successfully partnered with national mobile operators in Kosovo and Afghanistan to provide network infrastructure and operational support (GSM, data, international voice, management of traffic and roaming). For more information, please visit:  http://www.monaco.mc

Staff from NatWest Gibraltar will be cycling 1,000 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End in a non-stop relay in April 2013 as part of a charity fundraiser entitled the ‘End to End Challenge’ .

The 18 strong team of cyclists, accompanied by a support team of six, from across the Offshore Bank, hope to raise over £65,000 between St John Ambulance in Gibraltar and the local RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

The Gibraltar based cyclists Lino Brydges, Kathy Ballantine and Carlos Brydges, supported by NatWest Island Games sportsman and NatWest employees Gareth Latin and Kevin Gonzalez, will aim to cover the length of the UK in approximately 60 hours maintaining an average speed of 16/17 mph over the distance in order to complete the challenge within three days

The ‘End to End Challenge’ is different from other Lands End to John O’Groats cycle challenges, as it will be completed as part of a non-stop relay. The 18 riders will be split into three teams of six, cycling for four hour stints and then resting for eight hours. This rotation continues throughout the night and into the next day, for three consecutive days, until the final destination is reached and the Challenge is complete. Although this reduces the total distance cycled by any one member of the team, it brings its own complexities by riding through the night, in variable conditions and after only a few hours rest.  In preparation for the event, the RBS International team has partnered with Ian Williams and his team at Big Maggy’s in Jersey who have assisted with equipment supply, given their expertise of long distance multi-day riding and are on hand to provide practical advice.  Tony Williams from Equipe Flamme Rouge is providing a coaching and development service to build the team’s endurance and technical skills.

St John Ambulance Gibraltar started in 1883, six year’s after the foundation of St John Ambulance in the UK. The charity provides and teaches first aid so that others may save lives on the principle that everyone who needs it should receive first aid from those around them. Locally, the charity provides an ambulance service for transfers to and from Spain and Morocco.

Lino Brydges, Head of Premium Banking and Mortgages, at NatWest told B2B “I am delighted to be riding as a member of the NatWest team taking part in this Challenge to raise money for St John Ambulance and the RNLI whose contribution often means the difference between a life lost and a life saved.  The Bank is proud to support these extremely worthwhile charities that rely heavily on donations to support the local communities within which we operate.”

Joe Chiara, Commissioner of St John Ambulance, added “The funds raised by NatWest team will make a significant contribution towards the running costs.  St. John Ambulance is extremely grateful to the Bank for its support through the ‘End to End Challenge’ and wishes the team the best of luck over the coming months with their grueling training plan.”

If you wish to support the Challenge you can donate to the team by visiting RBSI at 1 Corral Road, Gibraltar.

The chief executive officer for Barclays Wealth & Investment Management in India was recently invited to Gibraltar for an insightful panel discussion on the subject of enhancing trade links with India.

 Satya Bansal, the Mumbai-based CEO, was the guest of honour at the event hosted by Barclays in Gibraltar, held at the Garrison Library.

The panel discussion was facilitated by Dominique Searle, editor at the Gibraltar Chronicle and Mr Bansal was joined by panelists, the Hon Joe Bossano, Minister for Enterprise, Training and Employment; Subash Malkani, Vice President and Finance Director at Finsbury Trust; and Peter Montegriffo, Partner at Hassans.

The aim of the event was to enable industry experts to share their knowledge and experiences and to discuss mutual business opportunities between India and Gibraltar, followed by refreshments and Indian entertainment while guests mixed and networked.

Mr Bansal told B2B India is unique to the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as it is the only country which was a member of the Commonwealth and whose parliamentary and court proceedings are carried out in English.

Minister Bossano recently attended conferences in Brazil, China and India, and is due to visit Russia in the near future.

He said: “[The government’s] view is that it is this group of countries which are going to be the leading countries in the future – the growth in activity and creation of wealth will come from there.

“We can see the possibility of attracting investments and high net-worth individuals to use Gibraltar as a stepping stone for European Markets.”

Mr Bansal considers education as the driving force which will keep the Indian economy growing, and is the key to attracting global investors to India.

Mr Bansal added: “The biggest asset for India is its talent pool.”

The past 10 years have seen an increase in investments in India to improve infrastructure. The introduction of a new investment channel referred to as Qualified Foreign Investors (QFI) launched by the Indian government has eased additional investments in Indian equities and debt instruments from foreign investors, and there are already several companies in Gibraltar with links in India.

Mr Montegriffo said Gibraltar entities might be able to work in India through philanthropic bodies, and money that is generated in Gibraltar could be spent in India.  He also called for Gibraltar to be used as a hub for businesses.

He said: “Given that we are English-speaking, common law based and share historical links with the UK, we are an excellent alternative for the holding and structuring of wealth and succession arrangements for successful Indian families.”

Mr Malkani said more has to be done to make investors aware of Gibraltar alongside other centres such as Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

Following the event, Mr Bansal said: “There are two things we need to consider here, and that is wealthy Indian families investing in Gibraltar as a gateway to Europe; and the other is having people of Indian origin living in Gibraltar investing in India.

“Of course, this event has helped open the doors of communication between India and Gibraltar.”

The event was deemed a great success and a fantastic opportunity for Barclays to give clients an insight into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

Franco Cassar, Country Manager for Barclays in Gibraltar, said: “First of all, I’d like to say a big thank you to the panelists for getting involved; and Satya for taking time out of his busy schedule to visit Gibraltar.   The discussion was thought-provoking and insightful, and this was a great event for our clients looking towards the BRIC countries for trade links.”

Barclays Gibraltar would like to thank clients for attending the event; the panelists and Vikram Nagrani for their involvement; the staff and management at the Garrison Library; Sound Reinforcement; Laziz; Chocolahhh…; and Mehek’s Dance Group for providing the entertainment.

Officers of the Criminal Investigation Department of

the Royal Gibraltar Police in the days leading up to the Christmas festivities embarked on a campaign to help the less fortunate in the community. Everyday items were collected as well as items related to the Christmas period with the intention of contributing to Father Charles Azzopardi’s and his team of volunteers’ Christmas distribution.

With the assistance of DHL, who provided storage space, and Argus Insurance Ltd, who financed administrative costs, an estimated two tons of goods were collected at the DHL warehouse from individuals and local participating businesses.

Gibraltar Defence Police Detective Constable Robert Dickson, currently seconded to the Royal Gibraltar Police CI

D, who coordinated the initiative told B2B “We were delighted to be able to make a difference to the less fortunate in our community during Christmas. Our aim was to bring smiles to their faces and with the assistance of the community we have helped make a difference. On behalf of the RGP CID I would like to thank everyone for their support.”

Credit Suisse has been named the Best Private Bank in Gibraltar by Euromoney magazine. For the fourth consecutive year, Credit Suisse was ranked among the top three banks in Gibraltar. Credit Suisse also came first in the category Range of Investment Products in Gibraltar.

Kerry Blight, Chief Executive Officer Credit Suisse in Gibraltar, told B2B: “I am very pleased that the market has recognised our leadership position in Gibraltar. This accolade reflects our unwavering focus on our clients and the long-term quality advice we provide them. Credit Suisse has been active in Gibraltar for over 25 years. It is an important market for us and we will continue to invest in it.”

Marvin Cartwright, Head of Private Banking Credit Suisse in Gibraltar, added: “The products and service that we offer our clients are the cornerstone of our success and so to receive the best range of investment products award is very pleasing. We have significantly developed our discretionary and advisory services for our clients in Gibraltar in the past few years and this work has also been recognised by Euromoney, our clients and peers.”

Euromoney is a leading publication for the global banking and capital markets communities. These rankings are based on the results of their Private Banking Survey 2013, and are derived from a qualitative and quantitative review of the best services in private banking by markets and by areas of service. The survey also includes competitors’ perceptions of the best-performing providers in defined categories.

Credit Suisse received numerous other regional and country awards, including Best Private Bank in Central and Eastern Europe, Guernsey, Russia, Greece and the Bahamas.