Global Private Banking Awards 2019: Winners’ Profiles – National Winners (Western and Northern Europe)
Best Private Bank in Europe;
Best Private Bank in Switzerland
Pictet
Headquartered in Geneva, at the heart of Europe, Pictet considers the continent as a natural strategic market, together with Switzerland, its historical market, and Asia.
Founded more than 200 years ago, the bank opened its first European office in London in 1980, and now has 27 offices across the world.
Pictet has been a pioneer in socially responsible investment, having launched strategies in that space more than 20 years ago. Today, Pictet’s thematic franchise, which invests in companies addressing environmental and societal challenges, stands at $41bn.
“We are seeing a trend amongst UHNWI to embed responsibility or ESG more holistically throughout the management of their wealth,” explains Heinrich Adami, head of private banking in London at Pictet Wealth Management.
In response to this demand, Pictet Wealth Management has launched a dedicated multi-assets responsible investing offering which combines different approaches currently available in the market, spanning ESG integration and active ownership, sustainability themes, and impact investing. “More products and solutions will emerge as the space becomes increasingly sophisticated to meet the expectations of a new generations of clients,” he adds.
Operating as a partnership since the foundation of the group in 1805, Pictet’s seven partners share many common features with entrepreneurs and families. As such, they have a personal understanding of the needs and challenges that entrepreneurs and wealthy families face, as they have to deal with the same worries such as succession, education and the role of money.
“That experience, together with Pictet’s exclusive focus on wealth and asset management, with no investment banking activity and thus no conflicts of interest, has allowed us to offer independent advice to entrepreneurs throughout the lifecycle of their business,” says Mr Adami.
“It is also Pictet’s partnership ethos that allows the group to concentrate on creating value for the long term, a game-changer for wealthy families that often span several generations.” PG
Best Private Bank in Belgium
BNP Paribas Fortis
BNP Paribas Fortis, the largest private bank in Belgium with more than €62bn ($71bn) in AuM at the end of 2018, has a key mission, namely to invest 100 per cent of client assets in sustainable investments by 2025.
Since this goal was set in 2015, the bank has succeeded in growing the proportion from 5 per cent to 30 per cent. “There are enough products and providers today that enable us to increase our SRI penetration. The key challenge is to raise awareness about SRI, which is still too low,” says Stéphane Vermeire, general manager private banking and wealth management at BNP Paribas Fortis.
Individuals have started to adopt greener mobility and healthier eating habits, but still do not realise the positive impact they could have by investing in sustainable assets, he adds.
Over the past few years, the bank has significantly invested in raising internal and external awareness about sustainable investments, training its workforce and educating clients.
“We are convinced that banks have a huge responsibility to channel capital to ‘future-proof’ companies,” says Mr Vermeire. Sustainable solutions are positioned as the bank’s first and preferred offering, proactively proposed to every client, as opposed to being just one option of its investment range. As such, they are the “new norm” at BNP Paribas Fortis and have become a key competitive differentiator.
Another key pillar of the bank’s business strategy is to maximise digitalisation and efficiency. “Being customer focused allows you to be more pioneering,” says Mr Vermeire, quoting Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos. In that same spirit, he says, BNP Paribas Fortis has developed PaxFamilia, a “digital family office”, in partnership with fintech firm GuiSquare.
The digital tool enables clients to plan and manage their personal and family wealth. In the digital e-vault, clients can decide to keep documents, contracts, proofs and photos, and choose whom to share this information with. “This initiative has become a huge success,” claims Mr Vermeire. ET
Best Private Bank in Denmark
Nykredit private Banking
For Nykredit Private Banking, personalisation is an important element in its business model; private bankers at the institution have smaller client portfolios than the average for the Danish market, serving between 50 and 100 clients. This allows for more client-facing time, says the bank, and helped it to increase AuM by 11 per cent to DKK59.7bn ($8.8bn) and grow its client base by 18.2 per cent to 21,464.
The personalised approach also helps the bank to avoid churn. “Today, much focus is on optimising everything, and we tend to neglect what it takes to create a trustful relationship between a client and his or her private banker – the personal contact,” says Lotte Månsson, managing director at Nykredit Private Wealth Management.
One of the bank’s main targets in 2018 was to expand its customer relationships from wealthy individuals to wealthy families. The bank launched a Next Generation project, which targeted HNWIs in the 18-35 age bracket with more than DKK20m. Clients are offered learning experiences, social events, exclusive memberships and discounts on hotel stays, clothes and more. Communications between clients and their private banker are based on the media they use, such as text and instant chat apps.
“The results of our Next Generation programme have exceeded our expectations,” she says. “We have seen huge interest from our families, who see value in our offering. We have experienced the highest customer satisfaction score among this group of above 90 out of 100, just as we have seen an increase in parents’ satisfaction.” HM
Best Private Bank in France
BNP Paribas Banque Privée France
With commanding positions in the French and Belgian markets, and strong ambitions in Germany, Luxembourg and Asia, BNP Paribas remains a force to be reckoned with in cross-border wealth management, although the bank’s nerve centre remains in Paris.
The wealth business now employs 7,000 staff, 1,300 of them in Asia, where growth in Greater China is seen as the bank’s number one priority. The bank boasts relationships with 60 per cent of Hong Kong’s tycoons and crucially, these are not local relationships but global ones, which include objectives across Europe, where Chinese investors have been picking up real estate bargains, and the US. Crucial to many of the deals is the close link between wealth management and the Corporate and Investment Banking arm of the bank.
The cross-border nature of high net worth society means French clients are also increasingly booking assets into other centres. “Families often prefer to structure a holding company in Luxembourg,” where staff offer strong family governance services and have expertise in multiple assets, says Vincent Lecomte, co-CEO of BNP Paribas Wealth Management during a tour of his recently refurbished Paris HQ.
“For families with members who live in France, Belgium and Italy, it’s easier to use Luxembourg to structure their wealth. We have dedicated executives there in wealth planning and credit, who work together with domestic market teams.”
BNP Paribas has been making significant progress in sustainability and impact investing, now offering digital solutions to clients interested in these areas in most key target markets.
But it is important to keep an eye on innovations on French home soil, as the successful ones are likely to receive broader roll-outs in satellite territories.
Recent launches include MyMand@te, a digitalised discretionary portfolio management service allowing clients choices of hundreds of pre-programmed asset allocations.
Clients who want a more autonomous approach are being directed into the e-Private service, which the bank claims is more suitable for entrepreneurs and “liberal professions”.
One of the most notable innovations is the launch of MyImpact, an app allowing clients to invest according to parameters set in the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, as well as become more involved in philanthropic work.
The pace of innovation has recently accelerated due to the establishment of cross-functional working groups assigned to work on launching multiple products. The bank sees this as critical to maintaining relationships with new generations of clients.
“We service first, second and third generations and want to make sure we really build up these long-term relationships,” says Mr Lecomte.
He understands that clients come to his bank for credit, corporate finance and real estate expertise, but fears that younger clients can be more fickle. “If we don’t innovate, they will find other solutions, which might be from family offices.” YB
Best Private Bank in Germany
Deutsche Bank Wealth Management
After several years of massive restructuring, which is still ongoing mainly within its investment banking arm, the largest private bank in Germany has at last won the coveted award for its home turf.
“What differentiates us in Germany is our German roots and global reach,” states Fabrizio Campelli, global head of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management. “We are able to work with clients both domestically and internationally, supporting them in managing their private wealth and corporate needs.”
In late 2018, the private bank revised its global coverage structure, bringing Europe and Germany into one market region. With the vision to become a “pre-eminent” pan-European wealth manager, the bank has launched a hiring spree, aimed at recruiting more than 100 front-office professionals. Among its top hires last year were George Crosby, former head of Latin America at HSBC and Claudio de Sanctis, former head of Europe at Credit Suisse.
The German private bank, with $220bn in client assets globally at the end of 2018, prides itself in having the “broadest” access to wealthy families, Mittelstand (SMEs) business owners, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, as well as institutional investors, offering them full connectivity with Deutsche Bank’s corporate and investment bank.
Entrepreneurs continue to be the biggest wealth creators in the country, although they face negative yields and slowing global growth, as in the rest of the world. In this market environment, the bank’s CIO view advises clients to take profit and recalibrate their portfolios, as the global growth slowdown continues and the hunt for yield prevails.
The UHNW segment represents the lion’s share of the bank’s revenues, while its dedicated, comprehensive discretionary portfolio management offering provides “very attractive” growth opportunities, says Mr Campelli.
The bank is also focused on engaging with the youngest clients, having run next generation events for more than 20 years. Its aim is “to prepare children and grandchildren of clients for their future roles, fostering their personal growth and supporting them in realising their vision”. Deutsche Bank has more than 500 alumni worldwide connected by activities such as its Innovation Summits in California, philanthropy, sustainability activities and through its NextGen app. “Our ESG product offering is a major focus and of growing interest among our youngest clients,” adds Mr Campelli. ET
Best Private Bank in Hong Kong:
Best Private Bank in the UK
HSBC Private Banking
While HSBC’s UK head office and much of its infrastructure sit in London, the bank has a strong and growing presence across the country. Having invested strategically in its regional offices over the past two years, these are currently some of the fastest growing teams for HSBC’s private banking operations in the UK.
Operating from offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh, HSBC provides locally-based relationship managers, investment specialists and strategic financial planners. Clients from outside of London have access to the full range of private banking products and services.
“In 2019, we have run a series of client events in the regions aimed at entrepreneurs who are looking to transition the ownership of their business,” reports Charles Boulton, CEO at HSBC Private Bank UK. “Our quarterly investment outlook programme has been delivered locally to clients across Scotland, the north and the Midlands. We are proud of our regional teams and are fully committed to expanding our presence outside of London.”
The UK market is experiencing significant challenges at the moment, he says, but believes these present opportunities for global banks to broaden and deepen private client relationships. “We offer our clients increased stability and confidence that comes with being a global financial institution, with a strong balance sheet.”
In Asia, HSBC services private banking clients throughout the region through key onshore hubs in Hong Kong, Singapore, mainland China and Taiwan and continues to expand. In September 2018, it announced plans to hire 700 new client team roles in Asia by the end of 2022, most of them in Hong Kong and Singapore. It is also investing heavily in its digital capabilities in the region, including the implementation of a new core banking platform, Avaloq, along with digital initiatives to improve the client experience.
A key opportunity for the bank is the transition of wealth to the next generation, with around $4tn expected to be passed down to the next generation over the coming 10 years. “Recognising this opportunity we have developed a Next Generation programme to engage with the future business leaders around the world, to better equip them with understanding how to manage and protect their family’s wealth,” says Mr Boulton.
One example of this is the bank’s scheme whereby it takes 15 Next Generation clients for a week-long immersive experience in the jungles of Borneo. The plan being for them to witness first-hand the impact of climate change and to learn how they can build sustainability into their family business models. ES
Best Private Bank in Luxembourg;
Best Private Bank in the Netherlands;
Best Private Bank for Customer Service in Europe
ING
Clients are demanding more from private banks and they want it faster. ING claims to be continuously working to improve and optimise its services, considering which solutions, digital or otherwise, could contribute towards achieving an even better client experience.
For example, the global CX Hackathon sees ING staff from across the globe collaborate on highly focused efforts aimed at improving the customer experience. Meanwhile, the bank’s structured innovation process, known as PACE, encourages the rapid launch of new products and services developed by small, autonomous, cross-disciplinary teams. The aim is to only deploy resources when it is clear the innovation will improve the client experience, with killing off non-viable products crucial.
ING is a firm believer in both face-to-face and digital channels. “We’re in the middle of a transformation to becoming a next-generation private bank,” says Ruud van Dusschoten, director of private banking and wealth management at ING. “One which can tailor to the needs of new generations of private banking clients.”
In 2018, ING added video calling to its services and is actively offering this option to clients, though it stresses there is no obligation for them to partake, nor is there for its other digital offerings. It claims that both clients and staff alike appreciate the new channel, and 10 per cent of interactions now take place via video calls, a number which it predicts will rise in the future.
ING’s mobile app has also seen considerable growth, and the bank claims these digital channels allow it to maintain the same high levels of private banking services while improving the efficiency of its employees. Indeed, despite the volume of private clients having risen by 7 per cent in 2018, the number of client facing staff dropped slightly. ES
