October 07, 2009

Wealthy clients believe the worst of the crisis is probably over and have started to come back to higher-risk assets such as hedge funds, a top banker at JP Morgan Private Bank (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Wednesday.Felipe Godard, Head of European International Markets at JP Morgan Private Bank, also told the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit in Geneva he was on the lookout for buys in his region and expected double-digit revenue growth in the coming years.

"We have seen a return of risk appetite. Clients are comfortable with the risks of hedge funds if those risks are explained," said Godard, whose bank is the world's second-largest hedge fund manager by assets."We did see a pull back at the beginning of the year/end of lat year. Flows are coming back now. Flows this year for hedge funds are positive, in our experience.