Global Private Banking Awards 2019: Winners’ Profiles – National Winners (Southern Europe)
Best private bank in Andorra
Crèdit Andorrà
Crèdit Andorrà has been strengthening a private banking model that, according to the bank, is more competitive, digital, innovative, demanding and responsible, with an emphasis on service and customer proximity.
In order to respond to the new paradigms of the banking sector, the bank has implemented a number of changes, aimed at consolidating its position in the Andorran financial services market and strengthening its international expansion across Luxembourg, Spain and Miami.
These included changes to the its corporate governance and leadership structure, and more investment in innovation, placing the customer at the centre of the bank’s digital transformation.
“The banking sector is changing profoundly with regard to digitalisation and the appearance of new actors that are contributing to technological disruption in the sector. Innovation has a key role in the future of business, especially in terms of designing new products and services that are suitable for customers’ new needs,” says chief executive officer Xavier Cornella.
An example of the bank’s focus on adding value through digital services has been the launch of Merkaat, the first 100 per cent digital investment fund adviser in Andorra, which enables customers to digitally access expert advice, at the same time as adapting to their new habits and needs.
“On the one hand, it includes the benefits and efficiency of today’s digital technology and automated services. And on the other, it involves a team of experts who advise the client on how to organise their portfolio and investment decisions,” he explains.
According to Mr Cornella, part of the bank’s added value is the ability to offer global services while maintaining proximity to their customers. “We have also built strategic alliances with third parties that enable our customers to benefit from a wider and independent range of options,” he adds. PG
Best private bank in Greece
Alpha Private Bank
Alpha Private Bank operates an open architecture approach, working with UK-based Alpha Bank Group company, Alpha Bank London, as well as Société Générale Private Banking in Luxembourg. This enables clients to receive advisory services from their private banker in Greece, while the portfolio is kept under foreign custody.
A five-step portfolio management process is applied by the bank: identification of customer needs; determination of investment profile; mapping out of investment strategy; selection of investment products and creation of portfolio; and constant monitoring and rebalancing.
Meetings between clients, their private bankers and a dedicated portfolio counsellor are organised on a regular basis to ensure all parties stay updated on the bank’s market view and to support the advisory process.
The bank has also engaged in a technology programme that acknowledges the evolving digital nature of banking.
“In order to adjust to the new conditions dictated by the ever-evolving digital era, the bank is gradually implementing its digital strategy in private banking services,” says Emmanouil I. Arzinos, manager of the private banking division of Alpha Bank. “We are focusing our efforts on adopting new technologies, further modernising processes and the operating model.”
The bank is developing a mobile wealth app that will provide a holistic and detailed view of the investment portfolios, access to statements and reports. “The app will provide an additional interaction channel between the client and the private banker and will make processes faster, easier and paperless,” he claims.
An ongoing process, the digital transformation will enable the bank to streamline procedures, reduce costs and become more efficient and productive, while delivering an improved client journey, asserts Mr Arzinos. HM
Best private bank in Italy
Banca Generali
Banca Generali’s continued strong growth and financial solidity are testament to its ability to understand and cater to client needs, which it also meets through establishing strategic partnerships.
The bank, which manages €63bn ($70bn) in client assets, recognises that the country’s ageing demographic is a key challenge and has developed a strong focus on helping clients protect their wealth and plan for the future. Only Japan has more elderly people than Italy, where 20 per cent of its population is aged 65 and over.
“Today, the wealth gap between the young and the old generation has stretched to the widest on record, and this is why succession planning services are amongst the most sought after by our clients,” says Gian Maria Mossa, CEO, Banca Generali. Wealth planning services are also highly in demand because 99 per cent of Italian firms are small and medium enterprises, and mostly family-run. Inheritance tax is low, compared to other countries, but there is uncertainty about how long this will last, given the country’s high public debt.
Banca Generali’s proprietary advisory platform allows private bankers to monitor the clients’ entire wealth, across financial and real estate assets, while enabling clients to define their inheritors, the statutory portion of their inheritance and the impact of taxation.
To meet client demand, Banca Generali has recently introduced a new range of advisory services dedicated to entrepreneurs, allowing them to compare their firm’s performance and sustainability against competitors in their sector and better plan for the future. The bank’s partnership with PwC and law firms offers entrepreneurs access to a range of related services. Through the platform provided by Danish fintech Saxo Bank, the Italian bank offers corporates trading with non-EU countries dynamic hedging of foreign currency exposure.
The bank has also expanded its range of products and service tools in the advisory space. Bespoke technology developed in partnership with UBS Partner in 2018 scans client portfolios daily and assesses them against risk profiles, quality criteria and investment goals, helping private bankers better manage portfolio risk and provide investment recommendations.
The alliance with Saxo Bank has led to the creation of a new entity, BG-Saxo, providing clients the opportunity to trade online instruments such as equities, bonds and ETFs. The partnership also allowed the Italian bank to develop a fast client onboarding process.
While Italian private wealth is still largely linked to real estate, representing €5.2tn of the €9tn total wealth in the country, it is important clients diversify from this traditional asset class, where prices are at historical lows, believes Mr Mossa.
In addition to insurance-based investment solutions, thematic funds and absolute return strategies, in 2018, the bank launched a new Luxembourg Sicav of alternative and illiquid funds, in partnership with more than 20 third-party managers. The range is focused on long-term themes such as sustainability, technological innovation and demographics. Working with London-based adviser Mainstreet Partners, Banca Generali has also introduced a new advisory sustainable investment platform, where investment portfolios are aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The technology allows private bankers to build portfolios focused on specific sustainable goals, those dearest to each individual client, and also measure the impact of each investment along ESG themes.
Late last year, Banca Generali acquired Valeur Fiduciaria, a wealth management boutique based in Switzerland, which signaled the start of a targeted international expansion, expected to take shape in 2020. The move was driven by the need to meet increasing client demand for diversifying custody of assets across different booking centres.
“In addition to securing a banking licence, we are considering adding new services to build a proper Italian wealth management hub in Switzerland,” says Mr Mossa. ET
Best Private Bank in Monaco;
Best Private Bank for Thematic Investing
Banque J. Safra Sarasin
Banque J. Safra Sarasin embraced thematic investing more than 30 years ago, and prides itself in being one of the industry pioneers in this space. The investment approach starts by identifying multi-decade megatrends and key structural themes expected to shape the world.
The current environment provides good hunting ground for thematic funds, as investors today are challenged by slow economic growth in a rapidly changing world. “A thematically led investment process enables us to identify the global companies that can thrive in this era of disruption,” explains Jeremy Thomas, head of thematic equities at Sarasin & Partners, the J. Safra Sarasin Group’s London-based asset manager. “Where there is disruption there is opportunity, as investors typically underappreciate the duration or magnitude of change,” he adds.
Thematic investing greatly appeal to private clients. Mega themes such as digitalisation, automation, ageing, evolving consumption, or climate change are intentionally ubiquitous, and therefore easy for investors to appreciate and understand.
Sarasin’s core equity strategies draw from these themes to find individual companies best placed to exploit growth opportunities, each stock having its own idiosyncratic investment case. This investment process allows the firm to build high-conviction, concentrated portfolios, highly differentiated from broad indices. This is also the key risk around thematic investing, believes Mr Thomas, as investors have to accept the inevitable volatility that comes with equity securities and understand that returns may differ markedly from market indices in the shorter term. ESG and sustainability considerations are embedded in every stage of Sarasin’s thematic investment process, with the firm engaging actively with investee companies.
The Swiss bank started operating in Monaco in 2006, and furthered its commitment with the acquisition of Credit Suisse Monaco, completed in 2017. The bank has now more than 120 people managing almost €9bn ($9.8bn) in assets in the Principality. Clients benefit from multicultural and multilingual teams offering one of the largest trading rooms in Monaco, credit bureau and client counter, ensuring close relationships with its clients, explains Pierfilippo Castellano, CEO of Banque J. Safra Sarasin (Monaco)
The bank is also “renowned” for the quality of its client events, organised during the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters tennis tournament, the Monaco E-Prix and exclusive golf tournaments. Due to the high concentration of UHNW Individuals in Monaco, the bank has been focusing for years on confidentiality and data protection, says Mr Castellano. The constant growth of new residents and the evolution of the existing ones represent a real opportunity for the bank, which aims to play a major role in this expansion, and continues to recruit new teams, whilst considering further acquisition opportunities. ET
Best private bank in Portugal
Millennium bcp
During the past few years, Millennium, the largest private bank in Portugal, has focused on developing an advisory model based on externally-certified private bankers and accredited investment specialists. During 2018, the bank acquired 286 net new customers.
Other innovations at the bank have included migration to a new commercial front end that will support its regulatory compliance requirements. “Migrating to a fully digital operational interface brought about major improvements in compliance [auditable digital trails], compatibility with all available retail banking solutions [making the most of synergies between customer segments], process swiftness and consequently improved customer experience,” says Rui Coimbra, head of private banking and general manager at Millennium.
The migration was a “stage in a process” of progressively switching to digital interfaces in day-to-day interaction with customers. This will help the bank’s private bankers to dedicate more time to managing customers’ wealth during face-to-face interactions, says Mr Coimbra. While this change posed some “adaptation challenges” as less personal interaction might have been interpreted as less support, the roll-out of digital technology in customer relationships was a priority.
The bank is also developing a service model for execution customers that includes off-the-shelf products from in-house and third-party sources, research information on third-party products and equity/debt markets, and the support of a market specialist team.
“Our aim is to maximise the profitability of our intermediation infrastructure,” says Mr Coimbra. The model will be implemented from Q3 2019 and throughout 2020.
During the next few months, the bank is also focusing on non-high net worth target clients, with a proposition that includes a comprehensive execution offer, advisory and/or portfolio management services and retail banking credit. The service will be delivered via online and mobile channels. Customer satisfaction drives loyalty when these individuals become high net worth individuals, believes Mr Coimbra. HM
Best Private Bank in Spain
CaixaBank
Technological innovation is a fundamental element in CaixaBank’s overall strategy, including its private banking model. The bank’s ongoing adaptation to the digital world has resulted in the reinforcement of its advisory processes with new digital platforms, investment in robo-advisers, and the introduction of new ‘ready-to-buy’ and ‘stop-and-go’ processes.
CaixaBank’s private banking clients can now access Ocean, the first third-party fund platform in Spain to offer customised information and conditions for each client according to their advisory service package.
“The Ocean platform has been developed to afford the maximum level of transparency regarding the total costs that a client assumes in their fund management activities,” says executive director Víctor Allende. Through a digital interface, clients are able to select and purchase from more than 2,000 funds from more than 140 managers.
According to the bank, Ocean is also the first platform in the country to include information on the sustainability of funds as a selection criterion, helping clients in their decision-making when looking for investment vehicles with socially responsible investment criteria.
“As well as the launch of Ocean, we have continued with our strategy of launching new alternative products,” he says. These investments currently represent €2bn ($2.2bn), shared among 16 different vehicles. “In this sense, 9.8 per cent of private banking clients have alternative products, 2.8 per cent more than in 2017.”
The growth of CaixaBank’s private banking business in 2018 was supported by a strategy built around offering clients a more transparent business model that adapts to individual needs.
“The enforcement of MiFID II in 2018 has been one of the most relevant milestones for the sector and a great opportunity for CaixaBank. Our ongoing advisory model has been reinforced, while our independent advisory model has also been implemented,” says Mr Allende. “This allows our customers to decide the pricing model they prefer with maximum transparency.” PG
