Private banking is banking, investment and other financial services provided by banks to private individuals who invest sizable assets. The term "private" refers to customer service rendered on a more personal basis than in mass-market retail banking, usually via dedicated bank advisers. It does not refer to a private bank, which is a non-incorporated banking institution.

Private banking forms an important, more exclusive, subset of wealth management. At least until recently, it largely consisted of banking services (deposit taking and payments), discretionary asset management, brokerage, limited tax advisory services and some basic concierge-type services, offered by a single designated relationship manager. On the whole, many clients trusted their private banking relationship manager to ‘get on with it’, and took a largely passive approach to financial decision making.

Overview[link]

Historically, private banking has been viewed as a very exclusive niche that only caters to high net worth individuals with liquidity over $2 million, though it is now possible to open private banking accounts with as little as $250,000 for private investors.^[1] An institution's private banking division provides services such as wealth management, savings, inheritance, and tax planning for their clients. A high-level form of private banking (for the especially affluent) is often referred to as wealth management. For private banking services clients pay either based on the number of transactions, the annual portfolio performance or a "flat-fee", usually calculated as a yearly percentage of the total investment amount.^[2]

"Private" also alludes to bank secrecy and minimizing taxes through careful allocation of assets, or by hiding assets from the taxing authorities. Swiss and certain offshore banks have been criticized for such cooperation with individuals practicing tax evasion. Although tax fraud is a criminal offense in Switzerland, tax evasion is only a civil offence, not requiring banks to notify taxing authorities.^[3]

Historically, private banking has developed in Europe (see The list of private banks). Some banks in Europe are known for managing assets of some royal families. The assets of Princely Family of Liechtenstein is managed by LGT Bank (founded in 1920). The assets of Dutch royal family is managed by MeesPierson (founded in 1720). The assets of British Royal Family is managed by Coutts (founded in 1692).

In Switzerland, there are many banks providing private banking service.^[4] From Congress of Vienna in 1815 Switzerland has remained neutral including the time of two World Wars. After World War I, the former nobles of Austro-Hungarian Empire moved their assets to Switzerland for fear of confiscation by new governments.^[5] During World War II, many wealthy people, including Jewish families and institutions, moved their assets into Switzerland to protect them from Nazi Germany. However, this transfer of wealth into Switzerland had mixed and controversial results, as beneficiaries had difficulties retrieving their assets after the war.^[6] After World War II, in east Europe, assets were again moved into Switzerland for fear of confiscation by communistic governments. For the history, Switzerland is trusted for offshore center in Europe. Today, Switzerland remains the largest offshore center, with about 27 percent ($2.0 trillion) of global offshore wealth in 2009, according to Boston Consulting Group.^[7] (Offshore wealth is defined as assets booked in a country where the investor has no legal residence or tax domicile)

In England, some private banks were established in 17th century. In these days, the capitalism based on agriculture had developed there. So some financial institutes that managed the assetes of gentries and novelmen developed into private banks. Gradually, private banks in England had managed the assets of royal family and the riches who escaped from French revolution. Then the private banks had played the role as the family doctors for finance of various riches.

United States is one of the largest countries in the scale of private banking because the high number of wealthy people who live in the United States, with its 3.1 million HNWIs accounting for 28.6% of the global High net worth individual population in 2010, according to the co-research of Capgemini and Merrill Lynch.^[8] Some American banks that specialize in private banking date back to 19th century, such as U.S. Trust (founded in 1812) and Northern Trust (founded in 1889).

Scale[link]

Before Lehman Brothers collapsed, UBS was the largest wealth manager.

The twenty largest global private banking branch in 2011 (listed by assets under management):^[9]

In the list, there are five Swiss companies including two private banks and eight American companies.

Value Proposition[link]

Most Private Banks define their value proposition along one or two dimensions, and meet the basic needs across others. Some of the dimensions of value proposition of a private bank are parent brand, one-bank approach, unbiased advice, strong research and advisory team and unified platform. Many banks leverage the “parent brand” to gain a client’s trust and confidence. These Banks have a strong presence across the globe and present private bank offerings as a part of the parent group. “One Bank approach” is where private banks offer an integrated proposition to meet clients personal and business needs. Since Private Banking concerns understanding a client’s need and risk appetite, and tailoring the solution accordingly, few banks define their value proposition along this dimension. Most modern private banks follow an open product platform, and hence claim their advice is unbiased. They believe there is no incentive to push propriety products, and the client gets the best of what they offer. A few banks claim to have a “strong advisory team” that reflects in the products they offer the client. A couple of banks also define their value proposition on their unified platform, their ability to comply with all regulations, yet serve the client without restrictions.

Product Platform[link]

Open architecture product platform is where a private bank distributes all the third party products and is not restricted to selling only its propriety products. Closed architecture product platform is a concept where the bank sells only its propriety products and does not entertain any third party product. These days the needs of the clients are so diverse that it is practically impossible for a bank to cater to those needs by its proprietary products alone. Clients today demand the best of breed products and most banks have to follow an open architecture product platform where they distribute products of other banks to their clients in return for commission.

Fee Structure[link]

Different Banks charge their clients in different ways. There are banks that follow the transactional model where the client is not charged any advisory fee at all. The banks thrive totally on the commissions they get by distributing third party products. There are other private banks that follow a hybrid model. In this model, the bank charges a fixed fee for certain products and advisory fee for the rest. Some of the other banks are totally advisory driven and charge the clients a percentage of AUM (eg. 0.75% of entire AUM). A few banks offer both a transactional model and an advisory model. The clients choose what suits them. A recent industry trend is towards the advisory fee model, because margins on commissions may go down in the future.

Lead Generation[link]

Lead Generation is a vital part in the Private banking business. Various banks go about in different ways to acquire new clients. While some banks rely heavily on their wholesale banking referrals there are a few other that have strong tie ups with their Retail and Corporate banking divisions. Most banks do have a revenue sharing mechanism in place within divisions. It is either a onetime charge to the division or an annuity that the division gets for a client referral. Many Banks believe that the primary source of leads must be client referrals. A client would refer to his / her friends when he / she is satisfied with service provided by the private bank. Generating a good number of leads through client referrals shows the good health of the private bank.

See also[link]

• Wealth management
• Private bank
• Family office
• Multi family office
• Bank secrecy
• Offshore bank
• Swiss bank

References[link]

External links[link]

• About Swiss Financial Centre by Swissworld.org
• Businessweek: In the Battle of the Big Brokers, Merrill Is Winning