Global Private Banking Awards 2018: Winners’ Profiles – National Winners (Western and Northern Europe)

Best Private Bank in Europe;
Best Private Bank in Switzerland
Pictet

One might think that a bank founded in the year Napoleon defeated the Austrians and Russians at Austerlitz, and 19 years before Beethoven finished his final symphony, would be inherently conservative and resistant to change.

But this is false logic: the truth is precisely the opposite. Any institution not capable of embracing changes in which it could see the value would have died out at some point over the next couple of centuries. As Heinrich Adami, head of private banking at Pictet Wealth Management in London, notes: “We like to say that innovation is our oldest tradition. Our history would not span over 213 years, if we had not been able to innovate and continuously adapt to evolving environments.”

An example is its early adoption of thematic strategies before they became popular. Its Water fund was launched in 2000; SmartCity, its latest one, was introduced this year. Being a pioneer in thematic strategies is an extremely hard thing to do, because at the early stage it is hard to separate long lasting themes from mere fads. However, the longevity of some of the bank’s themed funds shows it has judged well.

A more recent example of technological innovation is the Wealth app, which allows clients to access their portfolios, positions, transactions and documents in real time. 

On the other hand, it is possible to be both innovative and cautious at the same time. Clients still remember, and are grateful for, the private bank’s cautious positioning ahead of the 2008 crash, which led to stellar outperformance at the worst point of the crisis compared with its peers. Observers often used to credit Pictet’s cautious approach to investment to the unlimited liability of its partners; Pictet has certainly done nothing rash since unlimited liability ended in 2014, and clients will hope that this break with tradition will not alter its approach to risk in the long term.

The wealth manager’s approach has proved popular with prospective clients as well as existing ones, enabling it to grow. The number of staff in wealth management within the EU has increased from 405 in 2015 to 488 in the first quarter of 2018, with a rise in Switzerland over the same period from 482 to 562, as Pictet’s expansion over recent decades continues. The wealth manager has also seen strong recent growth in Asia.

Asked what he thinks clients value about the wealth manager, Mr Adami cites various factors, including performance, its financial independence from larger banking groups, and, as he puts it, “a culture of service, emphasising the understanding of clients’ needs first, away from a short-term product-selling approach”. This chimes with the private bank’s wider reputation in the market, and is at odds with the emphasis among some private banks on hawking their own funds. DT

Best Private Bank in Belgium
KBC Private Banking

KBC registered a “record” number of new clients and attracted significant net new money,  helping drive a more than 10 per cent growth in client assets to reach around €38bn ($44bn) in 2017. The bank’s growth is twice as high as the average Belgian private banking market, according to last year’s McKinsey’s Private Banking survey. 

Instrumental to its expansion was the creation of a “highly specialised hunter team” targeting top client segments, explains Regine Debeuckelaere, director KBC Private Banking & Wealth. The private bank also enhanced its CRM tool for leads and prospects, and worked more closely with the group’s retail and corporate branches, focusing on acquiring new clients, especially among medical professionals and family businesses. The latter represent almost 80 per cent of companies in the country.  

“We believe that the combination of fast-growing start-ups and long-term entrepreneurs selling their business will continue to boost growth in our market,” says Ms Debeuckelaere. 

The bank’s ‘family business in transition’ service caters to clients’ financial and fiscal needs, as well as taking care of “family relationships and personal aspects which play a major role in the transfer of assets”.

A comprehensive advisory service, covering all types of real estate in the country, was introduced in 2017 to meet client demand. 

Thanks to its broad product offering, KBC Private Banking has greatly contributed to the success of sustainable investments in Belgium. “

Our new ‘Comfort SRI’ solutions and the launch of an impact investing fund, comprising 50 innovative businesses, which are rethinking solutions in the areas of mobility, energy, health and ageing population – have contributed to grow the penetration rate of sustainable investing,” adds Ms Debeuckelaere, expecting this area to expand further. ET

Best Private Bank in Denmark
Nykredit Private Banking

Nykredit Bank posted some impressive numbers in 2017: client numbers were up by 57 per cent, assets under management by almost 40 per cent and revenues by more than 90 per cent. But, priding itself on the ‘customer experience’, the Danish bank boosted headcount to match, with both client-facing staff and overall numbers up almost 60 per cent respectively, a trend that is set to continue. 

“Our private banking offering is gaining momentum in the Danish market and we expect to grow our market share further and thereby will also be hiring advisers at the same pace in the near future,” says Martin Schuricht, managing director of Nykredit Private Banking.

The bank estimates that it currently has 5 to 6 per cent of the domestic private banking market, which it believes is growing at between 3 and 4 per cent a year, so the inflow of new clients should continue. 

“We are targeting both new clients and those already receiving private banking services,” says Mr Schuricht. Particular focus is placed on Danish homeowners. 

The bank places great importance on being able to provide a “personal touch” to clients, but recognises the increasing importance of combining that with effective digital solutions. Those private bankers serving clients with DKK2m-7m ($305,000-$1.1m) are responsible for around 200 families, whereas those serving customers with more than DKK7m are responsible for between 50 to 100 families. 

Recent initiatives have included its Investor Insights digital channel where the institution puts its advisers right on the front-line in client communication, having them provide news and updates in written, audio and video formats. 

Attracting millennials is also a big part of the bank’s plans, with the children of its high end ‘Elite’ clients being targeted by its ‘Next Generation’ concept as it tries to engage with the 18-35 year old age group.  ES

Best Private Bank in France
BNP Paribas Banque Privée France
Best Private Bank for Millennials
BNP Paribas Wealth Management 

Vincent Lecomte, co-CEO of BNP Paribas Wealth Management, managing €373bn ($427bn), including more than €100bn in assets from French domestic clients, is particularly proud of three recent innovations.

His new co-construction platform, ‘le Cercle des Influenceurs’, allows the bank to onboard both employees and clients at each stage of programmes designed to create and test new products and services.

An initiative to “streamline and simplify customer journeys” involves deployment of electronics signature in all BNP’s private banking centres across France, with benefits including use of less paper, lowering operational risk and removing requirements for many back office operations. Lastly, he has initiated dedicated support teams for entrepreneurs and business owners.

These initiatives are built on the bank’s close co-operation between retail and private banking branches, with regional centres of expertise – in cities including Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseille, catering to clients with more than €5m in assets – taking on a more important role. Most recently the bank opened a wealth management centre in Strasbourg, “where there is a clear need to support entrepreneurs in particular”.

Millennial clients, believes Mr Lecomte, have a greater need than their parents to be connected an empowered, placing a higher value on time, which is why the bank decided it needed to vastly improve the customer experience. 

This has been done through the creation of cross-department ‘pizza teams’, tasked within incubation units to design new products and services, involving clients in the process. This has meant creating new working practices, combining what Mr Lecomte refers to as “lean start-up mode, design thinking and agile mode”, aided by design specialists and fintech companies.

This client group is particularly interested in impact investing, which has led to the bank working with 30 international entrepreneurs under the guidance of the University of Cambridge, to identify business changes needed to increase sustainability.

“Over the past year, the concept of positive impact has moved up the agenda for entrepreneurs,” says Mr Lecomte, reporting a total of €12bn now invested in responsible investments by his clients, a tenfold growth over the past six years. “We see a strong appetite from entrepreneurs to align their investments with their values.” YB

Best Private Bank in Germany
Berenberg

Founded in 1590, Berenberg is one of the world’s oldest banks and, in the words of its managing partners, one of the most dynamic. 

From its Hamburg headquarters, Berenberg has established a presence in the key financial centres of Frankfurt, London, New York and Zurich. The bank has €41.5bn ($47.7bn) in assets under management and employs 1,600 people, across 16 locations in Europe and the US.

“We combine the trust you place in an institution with a long tradition and its established values, with dynamism and the ability to change. This is as much appreciated by ‘old money’, as by the younger generation,” explains Hans-Walter Peters, spokesman for the managing partners.

Berenberg’s investment capabilities and reputation for being a strong equity house are supported by a team of more than 120 analysts, one of Europe’s largest research teams, as well as a “highly-regarded” macroeconomics team. “Over the past two years, we have significantly expanded our expertise, launched several equity funds and attracted some of the best known and best performing fund managers. We want to be a leading provider of active investment solutions for German and European shares,” Mr Peters adds.

The bank’s wealth management business has strong ties with other business divisions, allowing clients to access solutions which surpass the traditional offering for HNWIs. For instance, the bank uses the energy and infrastructure knowledge of its corporate banking team to provide clients with innovative investments in wind, solar and infrastructure projects.

Responding to interest from clients on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments, the bank has recently opened an ‘ESG-Office’ to focus on integrating sustainability aspects into investment portfolios, as well as providing advisory services for foundations and non-profits. This year, the firm launched its first sustainable emerging market bond fund, the Berenberg Sustainable EM Bonds.

“Sustainability issues are more and more important to investors. Our clients want to know what we are doing with their money, and, in particular, institutional investors question investment decisions. We meet these wishes. We also think that ESG-compliant companies have a competitive advantage in global markets,” he adds. PG

Best Private Bank in Liechtenstein
Raiffeisen Privatbank Liechtenstein

A small private bank simply cannot compete with the big boys when it comes to brand recognition or the range of services on offer. 

But being small also has its advantages, points out Alexander Putzer, CEO of Raiffeisen Privatbank Liechtenstein (RPL). “It is easier to do things personally and individually – both internally and externally. And in our business of private banking and wealth management true individualisation has a high value for clients, while adapting to changes in the market is easier if one’s structures are slim and agile.”

With just a solitary branch, RPL is certainly small, but the bank’s focus has always been on getting consultants out of the office on client visits rather than waiting for clients to visit the bank.

Change is in the wind however, with 2017 seeing a new partner and owner for RPL in the form of Mason Group Hong Kong, which should open up a more international client base for the bank, especially in Asia. But as its client base expands, RPL is determined to continue to serve its existing customers in its core markets with the same high-touch approach it has always prided itself on. 

“Meanwhile, for our clients coming from Asia, we have established client relationship models that ensure that any Asian clients will also be treated highly individually and offered the full range of services and support networks as our clients from Europe,” says Mr Putzer. ES

Best Private Bank in Luxembourg
KBL Luxembourg

Being part of a 50-city European private banking network enables KBL Luxembourg, a pure-play, relatively small private bank founded in 1949, to achieve key competitive advantages. 

“We are able to provide our clients with agility, proximity and a very high degree of personalisation, thanks to both our deep local insight and, via the group, truly pan-European perspective,” claims Carlo Friob, CEO at KBL Luxembourg.

Today, HNWIs seek a long-term partner that can manage their international portfolio, meet their lending expectations and provide a range of associated professional services, he adds. 

Private banking clients are often entrepreneurs who live in one country, have their business in another and a holiday home in a third. “Such HNWI clients choose to bank in Luxembourg because of the extraordinarily high level of political stability, because the wealth management industry is so robust here, and because thinking cross-border is part of our DNA,” he says.

The group’s private banking assets under management grew 30 per cent in 2017, reaching €65bn ($75bn), reflecting client focus and investments in enhanced products and services. These encompass a “holistic” offering including wealth management, asset management, lending, and wealth planning and structuring. 

Acquisitions also had a positive impact on asset growth. Continuing to pursue its external expansion strategy, in late 2017, KBL European Private Bankers signed an agreement to take over the domestic Dutch private banking business of Lombard Odier, reinforcing its presence in the Netherlands. It was the bank’s fifth acquisition in three years.

KBL has developed strong relations with Lombard Odier since embarking on a digital transformation journey in 2017, when activities at the bank’s headquarters in the Grand Duchy were migrated to a new, advanced IT platform powered by the Swiss firm.

Through the Global Institutional & Professional Services business line, KBL serves family offices, foundations, external asset managers and other institutional clients. This completes the wealth management value chain by providing true “one-stop shop” solutions, says Mr Friob. ET

Best Private Bank in Sweden
SEB Private Banking

SEB Private Banking has worked hard to offer clients the kind of experience not necessarily available at other wealth managers, let alone if clients were investing on their own. This has been based in part on its skill in capitalising on being part of SEB banking group. For example, clients have been offered investment in initial public offerings on which SEB is book runner before they hit the stockmarket.

Another example is its Innovation Forum, a meeting place for entrepreneurs and potential investors. Business incubators use the forum to invite start-ups to pitch for potential investors from among SEB Private Banking’s client base. An example of a company that client invested in was Karma, which sells, at a discount, food from restaurants and grocery stores that would otherwise be wasted.

The attempt to offer clients something different is based partly on segmentation, with SEB Private Banking tailoring its service to, for example, ultra high net worth individuals – defined by the wealth manager as those with more than SEK50m ($5.5m) in investable assets. It puts a lot of thought into how to educate the younger scions of these families. For example, the theme for one recent weekend event was ‘Shifting Generations and Sustainability’, with more than 20 participants between 18 and 35 from the Nordics and Germany. 

More generally, SEB Private Banking is working hard outside its home country of Sweden, with a strong focus on UNHWIs – it now offers family office services in every Nordic country, as well as Luxembourg. 

In 2015, it established a growth strategy for Norway focusing on family offices. SEB Private Banking asserts that in 2017 this “really started to pay off’, with larger inflows of customers. DT

Best Private Bank in Hong Kong;
Best Private Bank in the UK
HSBC Private Bank

The main task at HSBC Private Bank, which has had to resolve structural and historic compliance problems, has been to evolve and refine its operational model, rather than innovate in a disruptive way, as it has long been a leader in terms of alternative investments and structured products.

“Across the private bank, we have been systematic about bringing the enormous resource of one of the world’s biggest private banks to our clients,” says Charles Boulton, CEO of HSBC Private Bank in the UK, part of a global institution managing $330bn in client assets across Europe, Asia and North America.

Its success in the awards for 2018 is testament to its ability to both continue to add clients and assets through its internal network but also to adjust and conform to a new era of regulatory stringency. In fact, the bank believes it has improved dramatically in its ability to bring together colleagues from private, retail and commercial banking to anticipate and support the needs of shared clients. Regional expansion in the UK has been part of this policy, with a UK HQ based in Birmingham, to reflect daily client needs across the entire country, rather than being branded a London-centric bank, although the private bank's biggest office remains in London.

HSBC’s understanding of entrepreneurs is now being leveraged to support these clients more effectively through different stages of their lives and business cycles. YB