International Prospecting
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Can one at a wire such as MSSB prospect and gain clients internationally, with a specific country or territory of focus? I understand there is travel involved but can I prospect in another country or advertise with any success? Also, would there be any reason a foriegn based company would want a domestic advisory team? Thank you in advance for any insightful feedback.
I know at my firm, fee-based relationships can’t be held by clients unless the client appoints a US resident as attorney in fact on their behalf.
A wirehouse with international presence might have a different angle than I'm used to though. They might allow you to manage the assets, but have them held internationally...or something like that. The client would most likely want that anyway - given the exchange rate risk of holding accounts dollar-denominated. Managment should be able to let you know this. A company with GLOBAL reach may demand a GLOBAL firm - and specifically a US advisory team, since the US financial advisory industry is more mature than most. A company "foreign-based" like you asked about would probably prefer to remain with a firm from their own country. The whole separate issue here is how in the heck you plan on prospecting, unless your company already has a program in place for people wanting to do this? As a "NewRep", you're going to have an icecube's chance in hell of competing in this space unless you're a member of an established team with international experience.Because you’re not registered in the countries in question, you’re going to run into compliance issues.
You’ll need to be licensed in England or Canada if you want to do business there. Other than that, its a free for all. However, due to the PATRIOT ACT and AML issues, your firm may have limitations.
But this could be a possible niche for me since this is an area of interest of mine since international finance in college, but I should be looking to help more local import export companies hedge against foreign currency to help their bottom line with our consulting team. I think that should be the route.
Each country has its own rules regarding this issue. In general its very difficult to prospect or advertise in an overseas country. If you do it without following the rules of that specific country, you can subject yourself and your firm to fines (per occurrence)or worse. Don’t do it without speaking to the group in your compliance or risk department that handles this topic.