Merrill Lynch on Wednesday announced that its Global Wealth Management (GWM) group is hosting its annual Global Investing Program for the children of its ultra high net worth clients (UHNWI) from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). This year, in addition to tutoring on the processes and disciplines of investing, the five day programme will include a day focusing on effective charitable giving. New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), a charity that conducts research and advises on the most effective ways to support charities is working with Merrill Lynch is this regard. The 45 students on each of the two, week-long courses will be divided into teams of eight, each with a specific charitable issue to research. Each team will visit one of seven London-based charities, which include Greenhouse, Core Arts and Thames Reach. This part of the course will aim to give participants a broad understanding of philanthropy - from how to approach charitable giving, to how charities operate on the ground and the process of fund raising. After the visit, the teams will present a fund raising pitch on behalf of the charity to a panel of Merrill Lynch judges, competing for a financial prize to be donated to the charity which the winning team is representing. The program will be held at Merrill Lynch Financial Center in London and similar programs also run in New York, Singapore and Hong Kong. This invitation only program helps attendees, aged from 18 to 25 years old, to understand the processes and disciplines of successful investing, making them better informed about managing their wealth in the future. The success of the Merrill Lynch Global Investing Program highlights the value GWM clients attach to developing the financial knowledge of their sons and daughters so they are equipped to take responsibility for managing and safeguarding the wealth that will be passed to them. Over the five days, participants are taken through a step-by-step guide to investing with presentations by Merrill Lynch analysts and investment professionals on different asset types, discretionary asset management, wealth structuring and alternative investments. The program also includes a visit to Bloomberg and Schroders. Other segments will focus on life coaching, developing leadership skills and also personal security - giving the participants practical advice about how to keep themselves safe when they travel or go online. Amir Sadr, head of the Middle East Wealth Management business for Merrill Lynch, said: “A priority for our clients is equipping their sons and daughters with the skills and responsibility to manage the wealth they will inherit. In parallel with our clients' increased interest in philanthropy, we have added practical elements of this to the Merrill Lynch Global Investing Program, an initiative that is more popular each year.” Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies with offices in 40 countries and territories and total client assets of approximately $1.6 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global trader and underwriter of securities and derivatives across a broad range of asset classes and serves as a strategic adviser. __
