Global Private Banking Awards 2020: Winners’ Profiles – Regional Winners

Best Global Private Bank;
Best Private Bank in Asia;
Best Private Bank for Impact and Sustainable Investing
UBS

Despite the Covid Pandemic, UBS’s Asia Pacific private banking operation enjoyed its best half year on record in the first six months of 2020. Profits doubled in the second quarter, boosted by high demand for structured products, according to the bank. “Cost discipline” also reduced expenses, driving the cost/income ratio down to its lowest ever level.

Iqbal Khan, the flamboyant, newly appointed co-head of UBS Global Wealth Management, is not slow to sing his new employer’s praises in this region. “With over 150 years of experience in dealing with multi-generation families, we’re well placed to be the number one foreign wealth manager in China and remain the number one in Apac,” he says.

But there has been an internal recognition that UBS can no longer be a one-trick pony in wealth management, with all new assets flowing from Asia, as has happened in the past. Bank bosses say their much touted “global integration,” which has merged the US operation with the global one, will help share resources, and ensure the wealth management operation diversifies regionally. The bank says that in the first half of 2020, two thirds of net new money was generated in Emea, with the residual spread evenly across other regions.

Top management prides itself in having  created a “competitive advantage that’s unmatched,” through closer collaboration between different units. Its latest ‘3L’ concept of liquidity, longevity and legacy has combined internal work on behavioural economics with research on clients’ emotions and needs.

This focus, being rolled out across geographies and client segments, is likely to run for some time and the bank has already credited it with helping guide clients’ portfolio positioning effectively through the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The three Ls is not just a marketing slogan to us, it’s the core of our philosophy,” says Mr Khan, adding the new concept  helps “frame conversations around what matters most to our clients, and enables us to be their financial life partners.”

The bank recently announced that sustainable investments are now the firm’s preferred solution for private clients investing globally. Of its $2.6tn in client assets, the bank claims nearly $500bn is invested sustainably. UBS believes a 100 per cent sustainable portfolio can deliver potentially higher returns than traditional investment portfolios, with strong diversification for clients investing globally. The pandemic, says the bank, has helped accelerate this shift by highlighting the vulnerability and interconnected nature of the world’s societies and industries.

“The shift in preferences toward sustainable products and services is only just beginning,” says Mr Khan.  “We believe sustainable investments will prove to be one of the most exciting and durable opportunities for private clients in the years and decades ahead.” YB

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

Thematic investments, which have been Pictet’s hallmark for the last 20 years after the launch of the bank’s Water fund, have proved particularly successful during the past few months of the Covid pandemic, with the healthcare and tech sectors coming into sharp focus.

“By identifying the megatrends behind those thematic strategies, we believe we can select the long-term winners in the global stockmarkets in areas as diverse as health, robotics, smart city or security to mention just a few,” says Sven Holstenson, head of Europe onshore at Pictet Wealth Management, which oversees $610bn of client assets globally.

“In the current environment, certain companies are actually able to grow in spite of the recession,” he says. “The healthcare sector, the tech sector or the environmental economy in particular offer opportunities. These three clusters are areas where Pictet has developed a distinctive investment expertise. Those are very promising sectors that have done well in recent years, and that still have enormous potential.”

But it is the area of private assets, exploited by Swiss private banks in particular, that has enjoyed perhaps the strongest demand from international wealthy families. “We expect persistently low and falling interest rates to drive investors to higher-yielding and risk-diversifying private assets,” says Mr Holstenson. “Private equity, hedge funds and real estate are to become ever more mainstream in the near future and will no longer be considered alternative.”

Observers of Swiss private banking say that this investment strength has been fuelled by Pictet’s success as an asset manager. “Wealth and asset management are two equally strong pillars of the bank – in terms of earning power and assets under management. There is no prioritisation but rather a reciprocity between both business lines,” says Mr Holstenson. YB

Best Private Bank in Central and Eastern Europe;
Best Private Bank in Austria; 
Erste Private Banking

Erste Private Banking offers a full spectrum of wealth management services through a broad regional footprint in CEE and operations in six countries – Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

In 2019, and across all CEE countries, the bank focused on further rebalancing portfolios, with investment products overall generating a robust growth of 10.3 per cent in assets under management, year-on-year.

“We broadened our portfolio with new investment products and structures exclusive for private banking, with special focus on discretionary portfolio management and ESG solutions,” explains Michael Tröthann, head of CEE retail sales and business development.

Recently, and in co-operation with in-house asset manager Erste Asset Management, the bank launched two new bond funds in the ESG space, complementing their existing range of responsible investment products which now consist of 13 different mutual funds.

In Austria, Erste launched its ‘Invest Manager’ digital portfolio management tool, providing a multi-asset portfolio tailored to the specific risk profile of clients. “With this tool, we provide a comprehensive supplementary offer for our affluent clients, closing the gap to a full discretionary portfolio management solution,” says Roland Jacubetz, head of private banking and wealth management in Austria.

The bank was quick to implement Covid-19-related measures. From mid-March, around 95 per cent of their private bankers worked from home for around two months, before the launch of a rotational approach for in-office work. All branches in Austria and the majority of branches across CEE markets remained open.

“During the lockdown periods, our widely acknowledged digital banking platform, George, handled a record number of transactions, while our trading systems also performed flawlessly despite exceptional volumes,” Mr Tröthann explains. “The crisis has further sharpened our determination to remain a frontrunner in digital transformation, with a particular focus on advancing the digital standing of our advisory tools and processes.”  PG

Best Private Bank in the Middle East;
Best Private Bank in Russia; Best Private Bank for Entrepreneurs
Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse’s  private banking arm has enjoyed much success in the entrepreneurial segment, which it sees as a primary growth engine. The bank says it has been collaborating with entrepreneurs to realise their ambitions, finance their businesses and manage their legacies for more than 160 years.

“We continually seek ways to better serve this sophisticated client group, whose banking needs require private and corporate solutions along the whole entrepreneurial lifecycle, often across different countries and currencies,” says Philipp Wehle, CEO international wealth management at Credit Suisse. “Privately owned companies are the backbone of many economies and represent an important part of the overall wealth of our client base.”

The bank has further strengthened this focus with the appointment of Christian Meissner to co-ordinate wealth management and investment banking services for entrepreneurial high net worth clients, offering them lending and wealth planning, as well as advice on mergers and acquisitions, concentrating on mid-market opportunities.

Many of these clients have connections to emerging markets, where Credit Suisse is particularly strong. It was one of the first foreign banks launching in the Middle East back in 1967, offering a “robust” approach to risk management, minimising any focus on ‘politically exposed persons’.

Servicing Russian clients, who typically need support in Switzerland, the UK, continental Europe and Asia, has also proved lucrative, with the bank developing “a deep understanding of the country’s specific requirements” over the last 25 years, according to Anton Cherny, head of IWM emerging Europe at the Swiss bank.

Against a challenging backdrop, Credit Suisse has recruited wisely to replace key staff, including former wealth management boss Iqbal Khan, who defected to Zurich rival UBS after a well-publicised fallout with group CEO Tidjane Thiam, who has also since left the bank. YB

Best Private Bank in Latin America;
Best Private Bank in Colombia
BTG Pactual

BTG Pactual’s wealth management business has grown steadily across Latin America over the last few years. Alongside its regional expansion, the business has opened new offices in the US and Europe with the aim of boosting its international investment offerings.

“This unique powerful combination puts our clients with the best of two worlds: the close relationship and regional expertise of a local bank, combined with the diversification and sophistication of international products,” says Rogerio Pessoa, head of wealth management.

The bank’s large investments in technology contributed hugely to its ability to cope with the many challenges of 2020. Being able to onboard new clients and service existing ones digitally, through the bank’s portal and apps, was crucial during the coronavirus outbreak.

“We already had tools that allowed virtual meetings to a point where we are able today to be closer to clients compared to the period when physical meetings were a norm. We were able to service our clients with the same level of agility and flexibility, two of BTG’s well known characteristics,” Mr Pessoa says.

In terms of investment products, the prolonged low interest rate environment has pushed clients to seek new sources of returns. Mr Pessoa points to alternatives, thematic investments and ESG as areas of growing interest among their clients.

“We saw growth in [ESG] products in 2019 and the trend continues in 2020. Some families are already actively engaging in these drivers for portfolio allocation, especially as second and third generations take responsibility for family portfolio allocation,” he says.

Also, clients have continued to show appetite for investment in technology. “BTG Pactual, as a leader in technology in the financial sector in the region, has not only been able to source quality products but also spur client’s interaction with tech ecosystem through Boostlab, our corporate venture arm.” PG