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The 2008 guide toSe
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Published in conjuction with:ABN AMROBanco UrquijoBank GutmannBarclays WealthBBVAMarfi n Popular BankSal. OppenheimSEBSG Private BankingTechRulesThe Standard Chartered Private Bank
Private Banking and Wealth Management
Safeguarding family wealth 3in a changing worldFamily Wealth Debate
Vienna-based Bank Gutmann: 12Private banking “from entrepreneur to entrepreneur”Bank Gutmann
The Standard Chartered Private Bank: 14A new global force in the marketThe Standard Chartered Private Bank
World Citizen Services: 18Life moves in good companyABN AMRO
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Creating value by getting the big 22picture rightSEB
The future of the family office 24Sal. Oppenheim
Open architecture for quality, 26 innovation and excellence in Private BankingMarfin
Specialist approach allows 29Banco Urquijo to weather market volatilityBanco Urquijo
This guide is for the use of professionals only. It states the position of the market as at the time of going to press and is not a substitute for detailed local knowledge.
Euromoney Institutional Investor PLCNestor HousePlayhouse YardLondon EC4V 5EXTelephone: +44 20 7779 8888Facsimile: +44 20 7779 8739 / 8345
Directors: Padraic Fallon (chairman and editor-in-chief ), Sir Patrick Sergeant, The Viscount Rothermere, Richard Ensor (managing director), C.J. Sinclair, Neil Osborn, Dan Cohen, Christopher Brown, J P Williams, John Botts, Colin Jones, Simon Brady, Tom Lamont, Gary Mueller, Diane Alfano, Mike Carroll, Christopher Fordham, Jaime Gonzalez, Jane Wilkinson
Editor: Sarah MinnsDirector of research guides: Mike Carrodus Cover illustration: Sarah Minns / Ray HeathPrinted in the United Kingdom by: St Ives, Roche, UK
© Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC London 2007Euromoney is registered as a trademark in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Contents
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Contacts: Europe: Belgium (32) 9 242 22 22 - Channel Islands (44) 1534 815555 - France (33) 1 53 43 87 00 - Gibraltar(350) 200 4850 - Greece (30) 210 87 71 100 - Luxembourg (352) 47 93 11 1 - Monaco (377) 97 97 58 00 - Switzerland(41) 22 819 02 02 - UK (44) 207 597 3000 Americas: Bahamas (1) 242 302 5000 - Canada (1) 403 234 8191 - Uruguay(598) 2 623 28 40 Asia-Pacific: Singapore (65) 6303 3888 - Hong Kong (852) 22 00 26 00 - Japan (81) 3 6229 4300India (91) 22 6630 9680 - China Mainland (86) 21 5049 9828 Middle-East: UAE (971) 4 4257 600
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080725_SGPB37_EUROMONEY:EUROMONEY 20X286 25/07/08 9:47 Page 1
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Let’s start off by looking at the
impact of globalism on families. What are the challenges in being a
global family of substantial wealth?
SH, Family Office Exchange Families have similar financial challenges
whether they are based in Singapore or Europe or the US. But for
the multinational, multi-jurisdictional family, there is much more
complexity and cost involved in managing wealth when members
are in many countries. There is much greater complexity in the
accounting, reporting and custody work that is required to support
different jurisdictional issues and keep up with regulatory changes. I
think the greatest challenges for these families is actually in the fam-
ily governance and the decision-making process. It’s much harder to
get people in five time zones to have a clear understanding of what
discussions need to be made. Distance mandates delegation to oth-
ers, which is difficult in many family cultures.
LT Challenges have become most noticeable in regions of the world
where wealth has exploded, such as the Middle East. The challenges
are also most acute, it seems to me, where the family has made its
wealth from the first generation and is now facing the succession
issues of the next.
JAMH, The Hutchinson Consultancy Globalization is going to increase
the number of wealthy families, as business-owning families decide
to sell out or undertake IPOs. The challenges facing these families
are not, first and foremost, in my view, investment or business
decisions – but more relating to soft and human issues such as next
generation matters, personal security, reputation management and
conflict resolution. Also, in terms of whom to turn to for help in
managing this liquid wealth, I think that they will opt to create
their own family offices because they have a certain distrust of the
larger banks. They want to feel they have someone who is fighting
in their corner for the family’s interests and not some individual
whose first responsibility is, sadly, the bank’s profit and loss.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Certainly, providing services to
families scattered across the globe will be challenging. How has the
family office sector been developing in your respective regions?
DA, AzureTax In Hong Kong, there are very few wealthy families who
are actually from Hong Kong. We have a lot of families based there
now for tax reasons or, indeed, because business is good; they’ve
made a lot of money and they’ve stayed. There isn’t the huge volume
of large family offices in the Far East, and we’re seeing new tries at
setting something up. The families we deal with don’t like to use the
major institutions, such as private banks. They have private banking
accounts with a number of institutions, but will they be taking advice
from those institutions? Generally speaking, not. A lot of families do
things for themselves with a few key advisers.
SS, Amarchand Mangaldas In India, at present, wealthy families tend
to have their issues taken care of by one person who would be a pro-
fessional but who is part of the extended family. The challenge is:
how does that become a family office? At the same time, Indians are
expanding their wealth in terms of acquiring companies globally,
Safeguarding family wealth in a changing worldWealthy families are facing growing challenges as they become more global. How can they manage their structures as family members move abroad? Where should they invest to truly diversify their assets across the globe? Is philanthropy a challenge in some cultures? And can the financial service providers who claim to be able to help ever regain families’ trust?
Executive summary• Globalization – with members of wealthy families located in
different countries – has made management of family wealth a
more complex process
• In some parts of the world wealthy families resist the
establishment of formal family office structures
• The measurement of the performance of family investments is
complex and not well developed, particularly as many families
should be looking to long-term, not short-term, returns
• Wealth management independently organized by a family office
has been facilitated by modern communications and technology.
But there is still a need for outside advice and services
• Diversification of investment, both of asset types and of
jurisdictions where assets are placed is a crucial issue
• Philanthropic activities demand as much professional input as
does investment
• Ad hoc and more formalized networking and collaboration
between wealthy families is a growing trend
and therefore being in a position to really have a multi-locational
presence, multi-locational assets, multi-locational management. So
it’s about managing to delegate trust, and creating a structure engag-
ing those members who want to take part in the family affairs and
those who want to do their own things in life. We’ve come from a
regime where accretion of wealth was almost like a crime, and we’ve
moved into the situation where creation of wealth is being recog-
nized over the last 15 years.
JA, Barclays Wealth In the UK, you can find a myriad of different
arrangements. In England in particular, if you had said 20 years ago:
“What’s the family office?” someone would have said “It’s the estate
office”. But the huge growth of liquid wealth of families in Europe
and the UK is changing that idea. There are some families in the UK
who have had family offices that have run for more than 50 years
but they’re pretty few and far between. I do get the impression,
though, that more people are questioning whether setting up a fam-
ily office is the answer. Do you need a formal structure?
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Before we get on to governance
and structure, let’s start by addressing financial investments. How
should wealthy families measure investment performance?
CBB, Institute for Private Investors It is difficult, and there is a need
for clearer metrics to measure the performance of financial invest-
ments of a family. First, what is their goal in terms of a return? And,
secondly, how do the various managers they’re using compare, both
in peer groups, but also on risk level.
DW, Forvest Trust Measuring returns is complicated. There are
returns in the short term, cashflow returns, and longer-term growth
and capital gain investments. You must also consider the volatility
and liquidity of the investment. If we are talking really about liquid
assets – yes, returns can be measured, and performance of the asset
managers can be compared, but families tend to have a broad port-
folio of diversified assets where comparison and performance need
to be carefully defined.
JAMH, The Hutchinson Consultancy There’s probably too much short-
termism. When you are judging external portfolio money managers,
fine, but, if one’s looking at unquoted situations or property, it may
take a whole generation before you actually see the return. Families
should be looking longer term, not quarter by quarter.
DW, Forvest Trust That’s very true, but what about the family’s need
for money right now? It is important to start by analysing the pur-
pose of the investment return. What is the money required for? And
from there, go on and establish an investment policy.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors As the individual answers the start-
ing question: what is the wealth for? how should he or she consider
the requirements of the investment returns?
DA, AzureTax It varies. In Hong Kong, I have clients who are just sit-
ting on billions of dollars in wealth, doing nothing and they don’t
want to do anything with it. In some cases they don’t trust people
to look after it, and in some cases they simply are not interested in
diversifying or investing that money.
DW, Forvest Trust Having a purpose is very important. Too few
wealthy families think about how to use the money they have at-
tained. That purpose can be short-term, such as funding a health so-
lution, and building the capital back up is a secondary concern. Or a
family might require a longer-term plan. We need to first analyse the
purpose of the returns and then plan the investments.
Best adviceCAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Who is best placed to advise and
invest family wealth?
JA, Barclays Wealth It depends. Some families have simple invest-
ment needs and can build their own infrastructure to handle that,
others will require external managers. Scale is really required,
though, if a family is to have a group of individuals as good as a
bank taking care of the investments.
CBB, Institute for Private Investors We’ve seen a shift in the balance
of power away from external financial service companies to the in-
vestor, thanks to technology and transparency. Up to now financial
services companies had more information and more knowledge
than their clients and than the investors. That is no longer the case.
DW, Forvest Trust Yes, but even though there is much more informa-
tion around, it may prove counterproductive and does not replace
the requirement for professional asset management, particularly
in a diversified portfolio. I agree that the family office may be able
to understand and evaluate the investment process, fees, type of
investments, etc, but it may not necessarily be able to evaluate the
risk/reward ratio and form a global view, for which a true profes-
sional is irreplaceable.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors We touched on diversification
earlier. How are families diversifying their portfolios?
DA, AzureTax I don’t think I’ve come across a truly diversified family
in terms of geographical spread and risk spread in Asia. If they have
a business, a lot of their money will still be in it. You hear about
families having investment committees, a pool of advisers on invest-
ment strategy, but they still often get overridden by the patriarch,
who says: “No, we must have x, y and z”.
SH, Family Office Exchange There are regional differences. Contrast-
ing Europe with the US, it seems that European families take much
Charles A Lowenhaupt (CAL – chair) is founder,
chairman, president and chief executive of
Lowenhaupt Global Advisors, and a recognized
industry leader in managing wealth for ultra-
high-net-worth families around the world.
He is also managing member of Lowenhaupt
Global Advisor’s affiliated firm, Lowenhaupt &
Chasnoff.
phot
ogra
phy:
Sim
on C
lark
e
ParticipantsDeborah Annells (DA), managing director of
AzureTax Limited, has been at the forefront
of Hong Kong’s taxation profession for
more than 10 years. In 2002, she established
AzureTax to provide transparent, strategic and
ethical international tax advisory services for
individuals and businesses.
Charlotte B Beyer (CBB) is the founder and chief
executive of the Institute for Private Investors,
whose online community and educational
programmes afford a safe harbour for 1,180
private investor members from 18 countries.
Shardul Shroff (SS) is the managing partner of
the leading law firm of Amarchand Mangaldas.
He is based in New Delhi. His family is the
promoter family of the law firm, which
originated as a family firm. The family still has
a substantial capital and profit share in the
firm.
Lee Thistlethwaite (LT) has more than 30 years
of investment and private banking experience.
He worked for JPMorgan for 25 years before
retiring as a managing director in 2004. Since
then, he has been an independent adviser to
several wealthy families in Europe and the
Middle East. He is based in Geneva.
JA Michael Hutchinson (JAMH) has been
assisting families for 30 years. He worked in
the Guinness family office for some 15 years.
During that period, he realized the importance
of the personal touch, and subsequently
established The Hutchinson Consultancy.
Sara Hamilton (SH) is the founder and
chief executive of Family Office Exchange.
Recognized for her expertise on wealth owners
and their family offices, she and other Family
Office Exchange managers serve as strategic
advisers to sophisticated investors with assets
lasting beyond one generation.
David Wollach (DW) is managing director
of Forvest Trust, a Swiss asset management
company based in Geneva that specializes in
the high-net-worth-individual market.
Thayer Willis (TW) is an author and expert in
the area of wealth counselling. Since 1990,
she has specialized in helping people handle
the psychological challenges of wealth. Born
into the founding family of Georgia-Pacific
Corporation, she has a unique perspective on
wealthy families.
John R Healy (JRH) was appointed adjunct
professor in the Centre for Nonprofit
Management at Trinity College, Dublin, in
2007. He serves on the boards of the Irish
Landmark Trust and the Trinity Foundation, is
a member of the Irish government’s Forum on
Philanthropy, and sits on the advisory board of
the One Foundation.
Jeremy Arnold (JA) joined Barclays Wealth in
September 2006 as head of wealth advisory.
He is also a member of the Barclays Wealth
Management Committee. He is responsible for
providing advisory-based solutions including
fiduciary products and services. He has more
than 20 years’ experience.
greater control over the actual management of the assets that they’re
involved with. They might have an average of 20 managers that
they’re working with when a US family would have 40. In Europe,
families tend to be focused on issues related to business ownership,
so we see less of a focus on investable equities and less confidence in
the public markets for the equity investments than we do in the US.
In real estate, US families might have an allocation of around 10%,
and among European families it’s much closer to 20%. In general,
Europeans are less invested in hedge funds and fixed income, and
more invested in the natural resources and energy area.
SS, Amarchand Mangaldas In India, diversification is growing. The
traditional investment has been gold. And clearly securities and
mutual funds are the preferred investment vehicle. Art, however,
is becoming increasingly popular. And there are new commodities
funds setting up. From a geographical standpoint, there is a clear re-
alization by families that this is the time to buy outside the country,
and to hedge for the day when demand in India might go down.
This might include business acquisitions outside India, so families
need corporate as well as personal investment advice.
CBB, Institute for Private Investors There is certainly an interest from
families worldwide in diversifying assets globally. Last year, 70% of
IPI members intended to increase their exposure outside their do-
mestic market. Until recently US family offices were invested twice
as much in non-US markets as the average US pension plan. The
way they do it, however, is typically to look for referrals from trusted
advisers or their own peer group, and they will tend to find local
managers or global firms that have access to local managers.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors What about jurisdictional diver-
sification of governance structure? How does jurisdiction dictate
structure and planning?
LT Sometimes structure is forced to be altered because family mem-
bers move to another jurisdiction. They may start off as one family
with pooled assets in one jurisdiction but once one member moves
to another jurisdiction, it throws up all sorts of very difficult issues.
Today this is happening more frequently and is causing huge debate.
DW, Forvest Trust It is important to diversify jurisdictionally in any
case. You can diversify assets, but if you don’t also diversify the
structure in which you are holding it, it can be devastating.
DA, AzureTax Having all your assets with one custodian, for exam-
ple, could be a danger.
DW, Forvest Trust Or holding all the assets in an investment com-
pany that happens to get sued, for example, because of a private
equity deal it is in. In that case all the assets would be exposed
unless the structure was diversified.
LT In some cases, political disturbances have forced families to
diversify jurisdiction. Whether it is the Shanghainese leaving China
in 1949, or it was non-resident Indians leaving the subcontinent in
1947, or the Jewish community, these diasporas have gone across
different parts of the world. This is one reason Switzerland has at-
tracted enormous amounts of money. The country has been a great
beneficiary of political stability.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors These historical, political events
can shape an investment mentality. Here is an example. A family
I know in the US who moved there as refugees a generation ago
has what they would call investment real estate in 10 jurisdictions
around the world. What family members will say is: “This is good
for investment diversification”. What the patriarch would say is:
“This is good because if we ever have to leave one country we can go
to another country”, and he’s not thinking at all about the financial
returns, he’s thinking about lifestyle or life preservation.
JA, Barclays Wealth That’s a good point. Lots of families and family
offices, what they’re concentrating on is security, political risk, not
losing money. You may therefore not want to invest in emerging mar-
kets despite the growth prospects, you may actually want to go and
buy prime real estate in London or New York. The outlook among
families differs. It is not just about going out into the world and try-
ing to make more money than the next money manager. If you look
at family offices, some are actually in wealth-creation mode and some
are in wealth-preservation mode. Their needs will differ.
PhilanthropyCAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors When talking about investments
and family wealth, philanthropy has to be part of that conversation.
A wise woman I know said: “When I put money into my commu-
nity, that is as much an investment for my children as any stock or
bond I can buy”. How can we go about measuring return on philan-
thropic investments?
JRH, Trinity College The problem is that the return on investment
is a social return, for which no measurement system has yet been
devised. This allows people who are professionally involved in the
world of philanthropy to play around quite a lot and be relatively
unaccountable. One interesting development that will occur over
the next few years is that a lot of the new money that is coming into
philanthropy through people who have made a lot of wealth in re-
cent years, particularly but not exclusively in the hedge fund area, is
money that is going to be invested according to a much more com-
mercial model than has traditionally been the case in philanthropy.
And that I think is a very welcome development.
CBB, Institute for Private Investors Melissa Berman of the Rockefeller
Philanthropy Advisory Group pointed out that this trend towards
measuring philanthropy so exactly and in a commercial way can be
very counter-productive, because it’s almost like venture capital. If
you went into venture capital, you cannot measure its success in the
first three months. It sometimes takes years. So I think her position
would be to have a solutions-based view, identifying a problem or
cause and then being patient. So I just want to make sure we don’t
think of philanthropy as something that’s suddenly going to be hav-
ing a quarter-to-quarter measure.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Just as philanthropy went nation-
wide with the Rockefellers and Carnegies, today philanthropy is
going global with the Gateses and Turners. Is global philanthropy
different and will the global family think differently about philan-
thropy? Is diaspora philanthropy different from home-grown?
DA, AzureTax In the Far East, philanthropy has got a way to go.
Families make donations, but it is not their purpose in life. There is
not a formal structure for philanthropy in the region.
JRH, Trinity College I think there are differences around the world,
and I think the differences are particularly cultural differences. My
own country, Ireland, is a case in point where we’re trying to get
philanthropy started after a period of rapid economic growth and
the accumulation of significant wealth for the first time in history.
But there is a begrudging culture that does not value philanthropy.
The Bill Gates situation is obviously the polar opposite of that, and
Gates’s philanthropy has won him much acclaim and we have all
forgotten about anti-trust issues. The process of philanthropy does
not differ from culture to culture and from country to country,
however. You make your investments and you try to get the best
return possible. But the level of sophistication is very different. And
philanthropy in any country has to go through a series of lifecycles.
Initially it’s mostly heart; then it becomes a combination of head
and heart, and then a little bit more head, as people try to measure
more precisely the impact of what they are doing, be more strategic in
their giving, less responsive. Philanthropy is a very fulfilling business,
but it’s also a serious business, because you have a chance to achieve
significant social change, so it has to be approached carefully. And
I would hope that family philanthropists will realize that it has to
be approached professionally and that it will be more successful if
families are prepared to create structures through which their philan-
thropy can be pursued. And creating such structures requires them to
do something very difficult – they have to give up some control.
TW There is an important consideration for families before phi-
lanthropy can be a very fulfilling business. This is a law of human
nature, which cuts across cultures. In many wealthy families, dif-
ficult relationships develop, damage the family and even some-
times destroy it. When family members are hurting and angry, it
is human nature to withdraw, to pull in and to be psychologically
busy managing the pain. This makes effective philanthropy impos-
sible. If anyone in the family has the wisdom to acquire assistance
in healing these relationships, the family members, as they heal,
will naturally become more expansive and generous. It is only
then that philanthropy can become a very fulfilling business in
that family. This pre-philanthropy need must be addressed or the
philanthropy will be limited. Families in all cultures share this
characteristic.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors If philanthropy is not for ama-
teurs, who can help families on setting up a structure?
JRH, Trinity College If families are pursuing their philanthropy at a
reasonable scale, it requires them to hire the best people they can.
And it requires them to give those people the space and the author-
ity and the discretion to be effective.
DW, Forvest Trust I agree it has to be done professionally, but one
doesn’t have to be a chartered accountant to know the general
concept of accountancy. So being part of a wealthy and charitable
family means that one also has the responsibility to have a general
concept of philanthropy, set the goals and directives and then leave
it to professionals to be carried out effectively.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors But does that detract from the
enjoyment of philanthropy?
JRH, Trinity College That’s true. The most compelling reason to get
involved in philanthropy is that you can get more fulfilment and
bring more meaning to your life. Now you can’t on the one hand
argue that, and on the other hand say you have to give it over to
professionals. So, as with everything else in life, it’s a matter of get-
ting the right balance. I think they need to be engaged. They will
not get fulfilment and meaning out of it unless they are engaged,
but they need to avoid micro-managing, and quite frequently they
are seen to do that.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors It may be that there are two ele-
ments of philanthropy for a family. One is the professionalization of
the process of giving – grants, investments and so forth. The other is
the strategic analysis of how to use philanthropy to help the family
build its own functionality. Discretion is a key point too when con-
sidering philanthropy. How and should families keep their giving
confidential?
JRH, Trinity College There are many influences on philanthropy that
require accountability and transparency of a kind that we have not
experienced in the past, and that obviously cannot be combined
with the sort of discretion that a family would expect through a
family office. Resolving that issue is quite difficult.
DW, Forvest Trust In philanthropy we speak about values. I think the
most valuable philanthropy is anonymous philanthropy, because
that’s really what true philanthropy combined with value is.
JRH, Trinity College Anonymity is very attractive but it has some
downsides, and if you pursue your philanthropy at a certain scale
it becomes impossible to be anonymous. The solution, I think, is to
pursue your philanthropy discreetly and modestly.
TW Philanthropy is such a tremendous tool for families. Discretion
in the eye of the public, as you mentioned, is important. Yet among
family members, philanthropy also produces recognition of a fami-
ly’s strength. It is also a wonderful way to teach business principles
to the family.
CollaborationCAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors An interesting point was made
earlier about collaborations and networking of families. Can we
return to that?
CBB, Institute for Private Investors Yes, there seems to be a trend
toward looking for partnerships with families in other countries,
whether it’s philanthropy or on the investing front. We’ve seen a
shift in family attitudes about being singular in their focus and do-
ing these things themselves, to having a much greater appetite for
collaborating with other family groups. What is not entirely clear is
exactly how families will be able to do this structurally in ways that
hold up over long periods of time.
JAMH, The Hutchinson Consultancy Co-investing with families that
they know and trust in the local jurisdiction is becoming more
popular than just relying on local money managers, I agree. For ex-
ample, agribusiness has been interesting, and international families
are co-investing with local families in South America to gain access.
LT In Scandinavia you will increasingly come across co-investments
of the major families. Why? It’s a relatively small region of the
world, they do know each other quite well, they think in similar
kinds of ways,. Structurally this does indeed raise issues. If two
families get together, the first thing both of them independently
and then jointly should be questioning is what is the match in
terms of their families’ values and visions and ideals? And if those
are mismatched, then I’m not sure that they ought to be talking to
each other, and they certainly ought not to be paying any financial
adviser to try to hitch them together.
SH, Family Office Exchange I think in the future we will see col-
laboration that is aligned with investment interests that are closely
aligned with groups of families coming together in ways that are not
permanent but in interactive ways to have an exchange or to co-in-
vest or collaborate in some way. A network might be formed among
families in different parts of the world because they bring something
to the table that’s valuable to each other. There could even be multi-
ple networks that a family might be part of. The structural relation-
ships will get even more complicated than they are today.
JA, Barclays Wealth But in terms of governance structures, I’ve done
work with single families, and trying to work out the structures with
a single family is very difficult. But surely we’re not talking about
two families having one governance structure?
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Isn’t that a multi-family office?
JA, Barclays Wealth My perception of a multi-family office is that
you might get different families with separate legal structures but
they pool their resources and certain investments.
SH, Family Office Exchange The ways in which we’ve seen families
collaborate in a multi-family office structure are a precursor of future
collaborative models. Private family-controlled buying consortia
that have the same kind of access as the larger institutions is more
desirable for many of our members than collaborating with any
financial institution, where the senior executives are going to be
changing every three or four years.
CBB, Institute for Private Investors Technology is fuelling the ability
of families to share their ideas globally.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Sharing ideas around the world is
valuable. I know an Indian family that has a family business, and
part of their requirement is that any younger family member who
wants to be part of the family’s wealth has to spend one month
every summer doing social service work as a volunteer in the village
from which the family originated. That is a fine idea and I’ve taken
that idea to a couple of US families.
CBB, Institute for Private Investors It brings great hope that the best
practices globally will be seen by others and adopted. Wharton’s
10-year-old Private Wealth Management programme brings families
from 10 to 15 different countries in a room with the professors, and
then at night they’re comparing notes and learning from each other.
LT This cross-border communication can also complicate issues for
families, however. In some parts of the world there are huge debates
under way, whether they are gender debates or educational debates,
or religious debates about what the family thinks it ought to be
doing as opposed to what it wants to be doing, because there are fac-
tional differences of opinion, and very strong ones, being fed from
different sources. Globalism, in a way, doesn’t help family unity.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Globalism is creating multi-cul-
tural families, and that comes with challenges.
SS, Amarchand Mangaldas That’s very true, and I think the diversity
aspect is something that families are actually living with in the sense
they’re not attempting to clone the same behaviour, going down the
route that diversity is a fact of life, and that is something that you
need to work around rather than against.
JA, Barclays Wealth We do a lot of work in the Middle East, and we
see a lot of families being affected by this cross-cultural thing. For
example, the patriarch made the wealth all in the Middle East, sends
the son off to college in the US or to England, and they come back
and they may have acquired conflicting values.
TW The family culture is going to have a big effect on how well
diversity can be developed.
GovernanceCAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Have any of us seen a governance
structure that allows for diversity and creativity, that is either work-
ing or, more importantly, we believe will be working over the next
100 years?
SH, Family Office Exchange I have. We’ve spent a lot of time looking
at what kind of structures will allow flexibility and freedom, and yet
connectedness in ways that allow both principles to survive. Pos-
sible structures exist in different forms and accommodate different
philosophies for decision-making. There is the united-we-stand phi-
losophy, which allows a family to stay together for generations by
defining their affinities and in what ways they want to be together.
Then there is the divided-we-stand philosophy, which allows owners
to invest together in flexible ways. They are divided in their owner-
ship and their legal structures, but able to use their investment
dollars in collaborative ways. The approach allows owners to leave
whenever someone feels the need for independence.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors What do you think will be the
challenge for the multicultural family?
SH, Family Office Exchange It is a very complex challenge. We are
involved in a family business study in Asia looking at how govern-
ance is being structured to transfer wealth successfully from first- to
second-generation families in multicultural settings. It will take
about a year for us to gather enough data to analyse what works and
what doesn’t work. And, as we all know, what works for one family
doesn’t mean it’s going to work for another family.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Let’s move on to discuss where we
feel financial service providers can truly help family offices, be that
in structure or investments. Michael, what are your views?
JAMH, The Hutchinson Consultancy When it comes to the holding
structures, global banks can perhaps help families and family offices
in the future. I have a fear as to the long-term future of the trust
as a structure, especially for Anglo-Saxon families. Governments
worldwide are very concerned about their tax base and are going to
continue to try to attack trust structures. It would, therefore, be un-
wise for families to just rely on the trust. However, it will need much
original thinking, probably not within family offices, but from ex-
ternal advisers, to come up with some hybrid animal – whether it be
insurance-based, corporate-based or whatever – which can be used
as an alternative to the trust.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors What about investment?
CBB, Institute for Private Investors I’m optimistic that the finan-
cial services industry grasps the change that has occurred among
investors. The industry is seeing the importance of transparency
and technology, firms realize they need new definitions of risk and
outcomes, and that they have to decouple advice from product.
The most advanced of these financial service entities will begin to
execute on this, and begin to act on what their clients and their
prospective clients are telling them.
DA, AzureTax I think it’s very difficult for banks and major financial
institutions to actually act in that way. The bank or the financial
institution is worried about its share price, it is worried about its
reputational risk, and it can’t actually do what is best for the family
in many cases. And usually the family has got 20 or 30 providers
– why is it going to select one particular institution to pull together
all the pieces for them, perhaps in terms of analysis of investments
or structural issues? I just don’t see it happening. And we’ve been
talking of the family office industry; well, there is no such industry.
It’s a wonderful idea to try to develop such an industry, but I just
don’t think it exists in any formalized style actually. I see exchanges
between families. I can see groups of people like this today, but I just
can’t see anything more institutional or more significant than that.
So I just can’t agree that financial services firms will be able to tackle
the issues.
JA, Barclays Wealth Well, the job of financial institutions is to
provide family offices with what they need, not what they think
they can sell them, and that’s a challenge. I think the opportunity
in financial services is to get yourself back into the fiduciary space,
in the widest sense, and that is about giving family offices what
they need. Family offices are very smart, so you have a much more
superior dialogue and it is good to deal with another institution,
albeit that it has a private client bent to it. But I don’t see it quite as
blackly as you do. I wouldn’t be at a forum like this if it was an area
that was too difficult to deal with. I don’t think it is.
JAMH, The Hutchinson Consultancy I think it will take a lot of time
to rebuild the trust which is lacking between families, family offices
and the global banks. And in the intervening period I think the
banks should be content just to be niche service providers to the
family offices in certain particular areas. Banks should be prepared
to take a long-term view. The perception of families and family of-
fices of the banks based on past experience is that there’s a constant
turnover of staff, and so the families end up repeating their story to
the bank time after time.
DA, AzureTax It’s true. Every three years you end up repeating your-
self to the next family office person with whichever major bank you
are dealing with.
JAMH, The Hutchinson Consultancy The banks should not give up,
though. I do think there is potential there if they take the long-term
view, realize they have to rebuild this element of trust, do original
thinking and provide the solutions the clients want. I hinted at this
earlier this afternoon – think up alternative structures for the trust,
realize the significance of where the family’s computer servers are,
so the bank’s computer servers shouldn’t be in or pass through the
US, London or Frankfurt, otherwise the IRS and others are going
to claim jurisdiction. Start to think in an original and creative way,
and then family offices might come back. The problem with some
multi-family offices is that they’re becoming banks. Families want
original thought, original solutions – not product. Families want
access wisdom.
JA, Barclays Wealth I totally agree. What is very interesting about
family offices is that they are very smart. You’re not dealing with
innocent, ignorant private clients, you’re dealing with highly
sophisticated professionals, and they will come to you when they
need your product, not vice-versa. I think where you’re right is
about the fiduciary side of the business. Interestingly we are now
looking at things like using limited partnerships and so on as an
alternative to the trust structure, because it’s more transparent in
terms of ownership.
Banking needsLT I think we need to be realistic. The banks can only go so far. They
are always going to have to justify to their senior management that
they are making a decent return, as are those multi-family offices
that have sold stakes to global private banks. They can’t get away
from that. They will never, therefore, look at a family from a holistic
point of view, whereas there are many other institutions that are not
banks that are geared to work with family offices accordingly. Most
families in some shape or form need a bank, and they will continue
to use a bank, and those that like leverage have to have a bank. So
banks will be there, but I think that we just have to be realistic, they
will never take over the family wealth space.
DW, Forvest Trust We asset managers consider ourselves comple-
mentary to the banks. We believe banks are acting today beyond
their core business to act as depositors and custodians and grant
credit facilities in case of commercial banks. I think anybody who
uses the big banks today for anything other than that, is not re-
ally evaluating what he’s expecting to receive. We need the banks
because we need the security and financial facilities that the banks
offer us. I think the mistake is that many banks try to diversify in
areas where they can just not be competitive enough nor bring any
real added value.
CBB, Institute for Private Investors I disagree. It’s about talent, brain-
power and solutions, and a family will go where they can find that.
And let’s face it, in many of these large financial institutions there
are very bright people. Of course there is turnover of personnel, but
to over-generalize about financial institutions is a big mistake, be-
cause there are some very happy clients of some major institutions.
JA, Barclays Wealth I think that’s absolutely right, and the challenge
for the bank is to develop the solutions. That’s what the smart banks
do. I think sometimes the professions think that that independent
view can only exist within the professions but there is an alternative
out there.
SH, Family Office Exchange Yes, I would say that at the heart of the
challenge is the issue around customized advice and the ability for
institutions to play a sophisticated role in supporting these families.
I think it is unrealistic to think they’ll be able to take a holistic view
of a multinational family that’s doing business in multiple coun-
tries, because the scale is just so broad. Within any institution, the
number of departments involved in serving that family are com-
prised of territorial people who don’t want to expose their clients to
potential risks inside the institution. So providing pieces of custom-
ized advice in a sophisticated manner probably changes the role that
an institution plays in support of a financial family and their family
office, but it’s a really valuable role to have them there as resources
to access new and innovative strategies. I seldom meet sophisticated
family office executives who don’t want to know about the best
thinking inside leading financial institutions.
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors But aren’t we also talking about
the concept of trust? I see David’s point that maybe the banks are of-
fering services beyond their competency, but families can deal with
that. What I’ve noticed is that our clients no longer trust the banks.
JA, Barclays Wealth Institutional trust does exist. Families with
huge amounts of wealth sometimes have difficulty in being able to
entrust their money to individuals or a group of family members.
There are still major families out there who will use institutional fi-
duciaries to hold their money, and that means that there is still that
fiduciary trust that’s out there, it hasn’t completely gone away.
DA, AzureTax It has diminished though.
JA, Barclays Wealth I think some wealthy families get comfort from
the institutional pocket.
JAMH, The Hutchinson Consultancy That was the case, but I do think
tremendous damage has been done to the reputation of some very
major Swiss banks over the last 12 months over the sub-prime situ-
ation. How can you expect families or family offices to entrust their
wealth to those organizations?
CAL, Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Good banks say: “Look, we made
mistakes, we do make mistakes, but we also correct them, so you
have our assurance that if we make a mistake, we’ll make you
whole”. People used to believe that but don’t believe that any more.
Trust has to be reintroduced somehow.
LT There’s going to have to be a huge rebuilding exercise. And
there’s also going to have to be a rebuilding exercise between two
very fundamental divisions within these global banks – the private
banks within the global banks, and the investment banks who’ve
cooked up a lot of these investment products that have gone wrong,
because the managements of these global banks wanted these divi-
sions to work more closely together.
A/F P GINA EUROMONEY 210X286 OK 26/8/08 10:05 P gina 1
Composici n
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K
Vienna-based Bank Gutmann: Private banking “from entrepreneur to entrepreneur”With its unique approach of providing partner-led services to wealthy private clients for more than 30 years, an international team of experts, long-standing experience in the world of private equity and a strong, client-driven system of values, Vienna-based Bank Gutmann is one of the top names in private banking in Europe
Specializing in asset management and investment advice for foreign
and domestic high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors,
Vienna-based Bank Gutmann is a leading private bank in German-
speaking countries, operating also in central, eastern and south-
eastern Europe as well as in selected overseas markets. A strong
international private banking team works closely with an interna-
tional pool of advisers, including lawyers, tax advisers and business
consultants. Bank Gutmann currently manages total assets of more
than 10 billion euro for high- and very high-net-worth clients, trusts
and foundations, and institutional investors.
Owner-managed bank with tradition and a futureFounded in 1922 by the Gutmann family, one of central Europe’s
most influential industrial dynasties with a long tradition of entre-
preneurship as owners of leading industrial enterprises in the Aus-
tro-Hungarian Empire, Bank Gutmann has always been independent
and privately owned.
Since 1959, the Kahane family has been the majority shareholder
of Bank Gutmann AG. Twenty per cent of the share capital is held
by 10 senior managers of the bank. The consistent involvement of
these partners in the day-to-day running of the business is one of
the bank’s key distinguishing features: Gutmann clients are served
by the bank’s owners – from entrepreneur to entrepreneur. They
make their clients’ affairs their own business, for which they as-
sume long-term responsibility. This Gutmann partnership concept
ensures independent and speedy decision-making processes as
well as the special personal commitment of the bank’s owners,
based on discretion and trust.
At home in central and eastern EuropeNot only its historic roots but also Vienna’s geographical proximity
to the east European markets explain why Bank Gutmann has been
working successfully with high-net-worth investors and entrepre-
neurs in this region for more than a decade. In addition to serving
customers in German-speaking countries, the bank focuses on
customers from Hungary (where Gutmann has its own investment
advisory subsidiary), from the CIS countries, the Czech and Slovak
Republics, Romania and Bulgaria, where it is expanding vigorously.
Apart from offering asset management, Bank Gutmann has suc-
cessfully added private equity umbrella funds to its portfolio of
activities. Gutmann invests not only in private equity funds itself
but also helps its customers to participate in attractive invest-
ments. Sepp Maier, a Bank Gutmann partner and head of its
international private banking division, explains: “Over the years,
we have established close links with leading international private
equity investors. This co-operation has provided us with an avenue
to extraordinary investment projects. We are happy also to make
such investments available to our entrepreneurial clients, who
would not be able to gain access to such projects on their own.”
Gutmann, however, is also a sought-after partner for entrepreneurs
who have sold shares in their companies to private equity inves-
tors and now wish to invest the proceeds in the best possible way.
The Gutmann team is assisted by a network of international and
local best-of-breed advisers, among them law firms, tax advisers
and business consultants.
Through its many years in the business, Bank Gutmann has
developed not only a strong bond with the region but also a
deep understanding of the needs of investors from these markets.
Thanks to its geographical location and very favourable legal and
fiscal conditions, Vienna is an excellent platform for serving inter-
national high-net-worth investors.
Individual one-stop asset management Bank Gutmann offers personal, efficient and discrete customer service.
Solid, customized solutions, security and capital preservation – that is,
the clients’ long-term interests – are top priorities. Gordian F. Gudenus,
The Bank’s partnership concept ensures personal commitment and continuity in customer service
Bank Gutmann CEO Rudolf Stahl about ...
... an owner-managed bank and personal responsibility:“Everything that concerns banking must be handled with utmost
care. Gutmann is an owner-managed private bank – therefore, our
business policy is strongly marked by our partners and our system
of values. Our partners are entrepreneurs and thus committed
to the fortunes of the company and its customers over the long
term. This status breeds a special sense of responsibility. Each of
our clients may trust that one of the partners will feel personally
accountable for their affairs.”
... Bank Gutmann’s special offer in central and eastern Europe:“I believe there are few specialists who offer their private banking
services in central and eastern Europe with as much sense of
purpose and reliability as Gutmann. Customers in this region enjoy
the advantage of receiving services from a Vienna bank that has
always been firmly embedded in the traditions of Western banking
while being able to fully exploit the logistic benefits of being based
in Vienna. There is hardly any major place in the region that cannot
be reached within a few hours. For a long time, Vienna used to be
the eastern-most city of the free world. Now we benefit from the
fact that all decisions on business policy are taken in Vienna, in the
heart of Europe, based on a profound understanding of the east
European market.”
... “Tailoring” instead of “retailing” services to customers:“A good private bank works
for its clients like their family
offi ce. Our approach to serving
customers is highly personal,
with 200 specialists attending
to fewer than 2,000 Gutmann
clients. Instead of selling off-
the-shelf products, we listen
to our customers and fi nd
individual solutions to their
specifi c requirements: which
means we are “tailoring“ rather
than “retailing“. Trust in a
private bank is also created by the right atmosphere and the convenience
it offers. Bank Gutmann boasts Vienna as its attractive base, excellent
logistic links and a special cultural environment, with our account
managers speaking our clients’ languages. This very personal approach
in providing our services has enabled us to compete successfully
against the best international private banks. External experts such as the
international fi nancial magazine Euromoney and the renowned German
publication Fuchsbriefe have consistently awarded us top ranks among
asset managers in German-speaking countries.”
Rudolf Stahl, CEO, Bank Gutmann
deputy head of international private banking and a Gutmann partner,
explains: “We offer attractive services to high-net-worth individuals, en-
trepreneurs and their families. As the leading Austrian private bank with
a strong international focus we offer our customers tailor-made cross-
generational personal asset management. Thanks to the independence
of the bank’s owners, our recommendations are always objective and
not infl uenced by the interests of international fi nancial groups.”
For Bank Gutmann, private banking is more than simply the optimal
management of individual portfolios. The starting point for tailor-
made investment management is a careful analysis of each custom-
er’s current needs and plans for the future. “Our customers can avail
themselves of the services of a strong international private banking
team that is thoroughly acquainted with the markets and operates in
16 languages,” is Gudenus’s concise description of Bank Gutmann’s
multi-cultural competence.
Core competence of portfolio managementGutmann is also closely involved in fi nancial studies and research.
In 2001, Bank Gutmann and the University of Vienna co-founded
the Gutmann Centre for Portfolio Management. Academic advisory
board members include not only numerous professors of notable
international universities but also Nobel Prize laureate William Sharpe,
inventor of the world-famous Sharpe ratio.
In portfolio management, Gutmann works closely with independent
research partners, the Gutmann Centre for Portfolio Management
and the world’s leading securities experts.
BAN
K G
UTM
ANN
• Pa
rtne
r-led
priv
ate
bank
ing
13Modern wealth management with tradition and vision in the heart of Vienna
For further information, please contact:
Bank Gutmann AktiengesellschaftGordian F. Gudenus, PartnerSchwarzenbergplatz 16, 1010 Vienna, AustriaTel: +43-1-502 20-290Email: [email protected]
The Standard Chartered Private Bank: a new global force in the marketThe launch of The Standard Chartered Private Bank last year and its acquisition of American Express Private Bank soon after made a big splash in the staid world of wealth management
Private banking is often regarded as a staid business where things move
at a glacial pace. The launch of The Standard Chartered Private Bank in
mid-2007 changed that. Not only did the bank open in 11 markets in
just five weeks, it then deepened its network to 30 offices in 17 markets
through the acquisition of American Express Bank in September 2007. A
new – and different – force has clearly arrived in private banking.
“We considered opening a single office before rolling out a broader net-
work,” explains Peter Flavel, global head, The Standard Chartered Private
Bank. “But during the planning stages, we realized that we had the skills
and momentum to create a launch with a scope and scale never seen
before in private banking. Moreover, our entry into private banking was
driven by demand from our existing banking relationships and it made
sense to meet those needs in the fullest way, in the shortest possible time.”
Standard Chartered Bank operates in more than 70 countries across
Asia Pacific, North and South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and
the Americas. The bank derives over 90% of its profits from the trade
corridors of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, positioning it perfectly to
grow a significant private banking operation. With a presence in nine
out of 10 of the world’s fastest growing markets for private banking, The
Standard Chartered Private Bank has a fertile basis for growth.
Standard Chartered Bank’s existing connections and networks have
largely dictated its target market of high-net-worth first- and second-
generation entrepreneurs. “These people understand world markets
and have businesses and family arrangements that span a number of
countries,” notes Flavel. “They need a bank that can meet their needs geo-
graphically, technically, intellectually and intuitively. We are in the right
markets at the right time – offering the right investment opportunities.”
Crucially, The Standard Chartered Private Bank was able to draw on
the full resources of its parent bank in planning its launch. While many
private banks operate at arm’s length from their parent, Standard
Chartered Bank was eager to put the entire resources of its global
operation at the disposal of its new operation. “Such a collaborative
approach was the only way to achieve the scale of operation we
wanted in a relatively short time,” says Flavel.
More importantly, the decision to use Standard Chartered Bank’s
commercial and other banking operations in the creation of a private
banking business reflects the bank’s broader philosophy of using in-
ternal expertise where
it is most needed.
“Private banking is a
strategic priority for
Standard Chartered,”
says Flavel. “The bank
works as a team
– unlike some banks
where there is little
crossover of resources
– so it was a natural
choice for us to bring
the resources of the
entire bank to bear.”
A perfect fitHaving opened
its doors in mid-
2007, The Standard
Chartered Private
Bank’s acquisition of
American Express Private Bank that September – the deal closed at
the end of February 2008 – dramatically raised the bank’s profile and
expanded its reach and capabilities. The purchase tripled The Stand-
ard Chartered Private Bank’s distribution strength to 30 offices, gave it
a staff of 1,100 and took assets under management to over $35 billion.
“The opportunity to buy American Express Private Bank was too good
to miss,” says Flavel.
The attraction of American Express Private Bank was not just its
client base. The bank used the same back office system as Standard
Chartered Bank, making integration of the two operations much
more straightforward and seamless. Additionally, as a long-estab-
lished operation American Express Private Bank already had a Geneva
booking centre, a trust and fiduciary capability, a discretionary wrap
programme and a web offering that enabled a global account view.
“The Standard Chartered Private Bank had originally planned to spend
two years following the launch expanding its capabilities but Ameri-
can Express Private Bank was a perfect fit,” explains Flavel. “One way
of describing the relationship between our operation and American
Express is that it was long on infrastructure and short on distribution
Peter Flavel,Global Head, The Standard Chartered Private Bank
Offices reflect the heritage of The Standard Chartered Private Bank
whereas we had the opposite position.” In addition, as a result of
the acquisition, The Standard Chartered Private Bank gained a Latin
American operation that extended its distribution.
Executives from The Standard Chartered Private Bank spent several
months on the road in advance of completion of the acquisition visit-
ing American Express Private Bank offices around the world develop-
ing relationships with new colleagues and learning about their opera-
tions. “That period of hard work enabled us to hit the ground running
on 1 March when the acquisition completed,” recalls Flavel.
To that end, when American Express Private Bank offices opened
worldwide on 1 March, each one had a senior representative from The
Standard Chartered Private Bank in place to welcome staff. “The signal
that sent to our new colleagues at American Express Private Bank was
crucial,” says Flavel. “It indicated that the staff in the acquisition were
valued highly and we were fully focused on working together to cre-
ate a better offering for our new clients.”
“With respect to American Express, which is obviously a strong payment
services company, its private bank operation was not at the core of the
business,” says Flavel. “Now its staff are at the centre of a new business
in a dynamic bank and receive all the attention and investment that
implies. Their expertise is being used in a fuller way than in the past.”
Deepening relationshipsThe Standard Chartered Private Bank caters to two high-net-worth
client groups: private banking clients, who typically have between $1
million and $10 million invested with the bank; and key clients, who
usually have more than $25 million in investments at the bank. In
total, The Standard Chartered Private Bank has around 19,000 client
accounts in the 17 markets in which it operates.
The Standard Chartered Private Bank’s sizeable client base is a huge
achievement for an operation that is just a year old. However, it is
important to remember that its parent bank, Standard Chartered,
has first-hand experience of wealth management services over many
years and in many markets. “As a bank, we already have existing rela-
tionships with numerous customers that are qualified to be private
bank clients,” says Flavel. “It is a question of talking to them and show-
ing them our expertise and what we can deliver.”
Indeed, while The Standard Chartered Private Bank is open to new clients
to the Standard Chartered banking network, its initial push to gain clients
is focused on existing bank clients. With a huge client base in consumer
banking, strong small and medium-sized corporate relationships and a
powerful local corporate and multinational company franchise, the pri-
vate bank has plenty to build on. “The long-standing relationships of trust
many people have with Standard Chartered are invaluable,” says Flavel.
“We aim to leverage them into partnerships that are deeper and broader.”
A unique modelThe Standard Chartered Private Bank stands out from other private
banks through its combination of onshore and offshore banking.
While most private banks offer only offshore banking, Standard
Chartered is able to make full use of its existing formidable banking
network – it is the longest established foreign bank in China and
has the largest network of any foreign bank in India.
The ability to offer practical day-to-day banking services, in addition
to the financial flexibility of offshore banking, gives The Standard
Chartered Private Bank customers a unique level of convenience and
integration in their transaction and banking affairs. “Delivering a full
domestic banking service, including local transactions, in the markets
in which we operate is hugely beneficial for clients,” says Flavel. “It just
makes life easier and ensures that The Standard Chartered Private
Bank provides a truly complete service.”
In its offshore banking operation, The Standard Chartered Private
Bank is refreshingly honest about the realities of contemporary
wealth management. “It’s tough to differentiate oneself in private
banking through products,” admits Flavel. “Products are replicated
extremely rapidly in today’s marketplace.” Consequently, Standard
Chartered has decided not to play that game with its private
banking offering.
The bank offers a full service open architecture client proposition that
gives access to a myriad of markets and products. The range includes
liquidity funds and capital guaranteed products, client directed
mutual funds, discretionary portfolios – where professional manag-
ers handle asset allocation and investment selection – and signature
portfolios, which offer a choice of geographic focus and fixed income,
equity or balanced orientation and are managed by investment man-
agers chosen from the best in the business.
THE
STAN
DARD
CH
ARTE
RED
PRI
VATE
BAN
K •
A ne
w g
loba
l for
ce in
the
mak
ret
15
“We realized that we had the skills and momentum to create a launch with a scope and scale never seen before in private banking”
The private bank has 30 offices, globally
Clients can also access structured products, offering exposure to cur-
rency, interest rate, bond, commodity, fund and equity markets. And
alternative investments such as hedge funds and private equity – which
offer exposure to asset classes that are less correlated than equities and
bonds, and form an element of any balanced high-net-worth portfolio
– are also available, as are straightforward investment options such as
foreign exchange trading.
“The point is that we have no internal fund management operation
because we want our clients to have access to the best wealth man-
agement talent in the world, whoever may be providing it,” says Flavel.
“We carefully select the best products in the world – either from single
managers or from funds of funds that represent the best the industry has
to offer. Our extensive array of products is designed to appeal to a wide
range of clients with varying needs and objectives – indeed, some of our
products are eligible to provide margin for a loan.”
Rather than aiming to create every product that a client might require
internally, The Standard Chartered Private Bank is able to focus on ensur-
ing its clients get the leading offering – whatever investment choice they
make – while leveraging its heritage and expertise in dynamic growth
markets to make the right choices for clients. And, most importantly, The
Standard Chartered Private Bank is able to add value – in addition to
gaining access to the world’s leading financial products – by understand-
ing the needs and expectations of its clients.
Perceiving risk and rewardThe Standard Chartered Private Bank has a steadfastly principled approach
that informs its entire wealth management strategy. It aims to develop a
thorough understanding of, and appreciation for, each client’s unique cir-
cumstances and objectives. Then, working with clients to understand their
vision and expectations, the bank’s relationship managers devise a strate-
gic, long-term approach focused on clients’ needs, rather than individual
financial transactions, before recommending innovative financial solutions
that meet an objective assessment of each client’s goals.
Each of these stages of the investment process, which anchor The
Standard Chartered Private Bank’s thinking and the way it interacts
with clients, requires a deep understanding of the mindset of clients.
As a private banking group built around growth markets, the bank has
an unparalleled insight into how its clients perceive risk and reward
and, more generally, how they live their lives. “Approaches to wealth
differ the world over and with operations in Asia Pacific, North and
South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas, we are
acutely aware of regional, local and, of course, individual differences,”
says Flavel.
However, while all global private banking markets differ, many that The
Standard Chartered Private Bank operates in have a number of features
in common. Generally, clients in emerging markets have a reluctance to
subscribe to traditional asset allocation models that were designed for
clients who perceive wealth in strikingly different ways to them. “We find
that clients don’t want 25% of their money in markets that would be
chosen by a US private bank, for example,” says Flavel. “In contrast, our
asset allocation models are built around what our clients find comfort-
able in their local markets.”
Similarly, The Standard Chartered Private Bank is able to accom-
modate the investment behaviour of its client base because it
understands their expectations. “Obviously some of our clients have
international lifestyles and might have the same approach to trad-
ing as any private banking client,” says Flavel. “But more commonly,
our clients will have first- or second-generation wealth – which will
have been gained by hard work and being market savvy and being
quite focused on trading.”
Typically, such clients have higher return expectations than tra-
ditional private bank clients. “It is accurate to say that our clients
might be higher on a risk/reward scale than clients in, for example,
Europe,” says Flavel. “What we observe is that they are generally
averse to handing over large sums of cash to a banker – who has
just flown in from head office – before they jet off on long holidays.
They want to be actively involved in how their money is invested
and many are likely to be quite active traders.”
In practical terms, that means that The Standard Chartered Private
Bank relationship managers must be considerably more skilled
than a traditional private banker. “For our clients, this is not just a
feel-good relationship with someone who can be relied on to select
a good wine at lunch and who can help settle family disputes,” says
Flavel. “This is a dynamic partnership with a professional that has
technical competence in multiple markets and asset classes and
who understands investment products, foreign exchange and the
complexities involved in managing a family’s wealth.”
“One way of describing the relationship between our operation and American Express is that it was long on infrastructure and short on distribution whereas we had the opposite position”
Serving youThe Standard Chartered Private Bank delivers great
opportunities and benefits to clients, including:
• An unwavering corporate commitment that focuses on
serving the long-term wealth management needs of
clients and their families through generations;
• A pledge of exceptional client service from experienced
private bankers and the account management team;
• Connecting clients to opportunities in a broad network
encompassing 30 locations worldwide focused on the
growth markets of the world;
• A wide range of wealth management services – from
investment management and estate planning to credit
services and more;
• An award-winning offering – The Standard Chartered
Private Bank was named Global Best Private Bank
2008 by Euromoney, which cited the bank’s strength
in risk management, focus on growth markets, strong
performance, growth in client base and commitment to
client service and advisory as factors in its success.
Seeing through the cycleWhile many emerging markets initially escaped the credit crunch that
began in the summer of 2007, markets across Asia – and to a lesser
extent, Latin America and the Middle East – have come under increas-
ing pressure in 2008 as evidence has grown of a global economic
slowdown. “We remain cautious about the short-term prospects for
global markets,” says Flavel. “There will clearly be more bumps to
come before markets strengthen.”
However, Flavel notes that the fundamentals of many emerging
markets remain indisputably positive. “Growth in the most important
emerging markets – China and India – remains at a multiple many
times higher than OECD markets,” he says. “We still expect 7-9% a year.”
Growth in a number of other emerging markets, such as those in the
Middle East, also remains impressive as many countries in the region
reconfigure their economies – using massive oil revenues – to be less
reliant on oil production in the long term.
“It is vital for clients to have a strong partner that understands when
markets or asset classes are overheating and caution is required and,
equally where new opportunities may be emerging where it’s important
to be an early investor,” says Flavel. The Standard Chartered Private Bank
continually evaluates markets, products and asset managers on its clients’
behalf to ensure that its recommended solutions deliver the results that
clients expect. However, the bank is also keen to help clients see beyond
short-term fluctuations in markets. “We help our clients see through the
cycle because, in the long term, day-to-day timing is insignificant in terms
of returns compared to the long-term returns that can be created by tak-
ing committed views on where value is located,” says Flavel.
In turbulent times clients appreciate the solidity and financial stability
of Standard Chartered, which has a banking heritage spanning more
than 150 years. Rated A+ by Standard & Poor’s, Standard Chartered
recently reported results for the six months ending 30 June 2008 that
showed operating income 33% higher, profit before taxation up 31%
– an interim record for the bank – and total assets 34% higher at $397
billion “We are well capitalized and, as a group, we have a clear and con-
sistent strategy, which is do business in markets we know, with products
we understand fully, with clients with whom we build deep relation-
ships. This is important to clients and the Bank as a whole.” says Flavel.
Future plansWith the acquisition of American Express Private Bank finally com-
pleted in February this year, The Standard Chartered Private Bank has
plenty to occupy it at the moment. “We have plenty of growth oppor-
tunities on the horizon through our existing client base – both clients
that were previously with American Express Private Bank and those
clients of Standard Chartered that are qualified to become clients of
the private bank,” says Flavel.
But while The Standard Chartered Private Bank may be spending
much of the next year further integrating American Express Private
Bank, Flavel says that he is eager to consider new markets for the bank
for expansion. “We’re an ambitious operation – that’s what makes us
so successful for our clients – and necessarily we are always thinking
bigger,” he says. With Standard Chartered in 70 markets worldwide
and private banking currently in 30 locations, there is plenty of scope
for expansion in the future.
Regardless of how, or where, The Standard Chartered Private Bank
grows in the coming years – and it seems certain that it will continue
to be one of the fastest-growing banks in the sector – Flavel says that
the principles that the bank launched with will remain central to its
vision. “Our success has been built on a clear philosophy of wealth
management that reflects the expectations of our clients,” he says.
“There can be no compromise in terms of quality, service, investment
choices or flexibility. We are here to meet clients’ needs.”
THE
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For further information, please contact
6 Battery RoadLevel 27 Singapore 049909
World Citizen Services: Life moves in good companyHigh-net-worth individuals enjoy increasingly mobile lifestyles including business or residences outside their home countries. However, many complexities arise from the multiple legal and fiscal regimes associated with an international existence. World Citizen Services, recently launched by ABN AMRO Private Banking, can offer these clients financial ease abroad
World Citizen Services is an exclusive ABN AMRO Private Banking serv-
ice concept that guides clients through new challenges abroad. As
we see many of our clients moving their lives across borders to coun-
tries like France and Spain, ABN AMRO Private Banking has extended
its existing service with local World Citizen Services offices on the
Côte d’Azur and the Costa del Sol. World Citizen Services is ready to
help clients in any respect: from finding and financing a home abroad
to tips on how to get settled in their new country. Regardless of the
financial requirements, we make sure that all matters are arranged
to perfection in clients’ new countries of residence, so that they can
focus on enjoying their chosen lifestyles.
A local guideLocal support can be invaluable to clients who are expanding their
lives across borders. Our local World Citizen Services teams give
access to their local network, as well as to any financial service in our
global ABN AMRO network, as well as to any financial service in our
global ABN AMRO network – with all the support of a top 10 global
private bank. Our local teams are knowledgeable about local real
estate, legal advice, credit requirements and taxation. They are there
to advise clients on all their questions regarding living in their new
country: from questions about every financial matter abroad to infor-
mation about the region and local market. World Citizen Services can
provide both immediate solutions and long-term arrangements.
Our local teams can speak to the client in his own language. Our
teams speak French, Spanish, English, Dutch and German, and know
best how to get things done in their respective countries. They com-
bine expertise and experience to provide personal, local advice that is
completely customised to a client’s situation and preferred location.
We want clients to experience unlimited enjoyment as they join the
exclusive company of those who have turned their international
lifestyles into an art form.
A home abroad: from dream to reality Where do you start once you have decided to realize your dream of
having a home abroad? World Citizen Services has already helped
many clients purchase homes abroad. The local team has developed
relationships with brokers over many years, and knows the market for
high value home like no other. We know what’s involved in buying a
home abroad and can point out relevant issues for the client.
Together with the client World Citizen Services will look for the best
financing, reviewing all opportunities to find the right solution. For
instance, financing with a client’s own capital is not always advisable. A
mortgage may be more beneficial, for which we can offer various options.
Daily banking easeA move abroad requires adjustments and familiarization with local cus-
toms, traditions and (im) possibilities. This includes banking. Some things
are exactly as they are at home; others are completely different. World
Citizen Services helps clients navigate their new banking environments by
facilitating the payment ease to which they are accustomed. In France, for
example, we can quickly arrange a current account for all banking needs,
including a cheque book, credit card or online facilities. Our service ranges
from a single, simple account to internationally distributed, multiple
account management. Our teams work with the worldwide ABN AMRO
network, allowing a client’s total account management to run smoothly.
“Local support can be invaluable to clients who are expanding their lives across borders. Our local World Citizen Services teams give access to their local network, as well as to any financial service in our global ABN AMRO network. ”
World Citizen Services help ease the complexities of life abroad
World Citizen Services: Life moves in good company
Estate, tax and legal adviceAn international move can have a number of consequences related to
taxes or legal rights. A foreign owner of a French home, for example,
has to take various tax issues into account. He will probably face
double taxation. He may also be categorized differently by the tax
authorities in each of his countries of residence and has to consider a
number of other important issues. World Citizen Services ensures that
the client receives specialized, made-to-measure tax advice from our
international estate planning specialists. They have solid experience
providing international tax and legal guidance to private banking cli-
ents so as to preserve wealth, make optimal arrangements and avoid
any undesirable fiscal consequences.
Exclusive engagementsA new environment often means acquiring new social and commer-
cial contacts and experiences. World Citizen Services welcomes the
client in our network by inviting him for local client activities in France
and Spain. These activities range from golf tournaments to economic
forums. For example, in France we were the main sponsor of the Day
for Change benefit golf tournament at the Royal Mougins Golf Club,
which concluded with an attractive evening programme.
In Spain, World Citizen Services Spain sponsored the Sotogrande
Silver Cup, Spain’s top polo tournament on the Costa del Sol, in 2007.
This year, we were the main sponsor of the Andalusian Dutch Open,
which was held in June on the magnificent course at La Quinta Golf &
Country Club.
In addition to golfing events, World Citizen Services organizes other
activities that range from culture and entertainment to informational
sessions on financial issues, and provide information on third-party
events planned in their areas. All this provides the client with an
excellent opportunity to expand his networks in France and Spain.
Our servicesThese are just some of the ways in which World Citizen Services helps
clients to flourish in their new environments. From insurance to ad-
vice to events, our expertise helps them to move their lives smoothly
and successfully.
For further information, please contact
France: Ab Meijer +33 497 038 332Spain: Marianne de Wit +34 952 90 88 43 www. worldcitizenservices. com
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your dreams our guidance your life abroad our local support
+33 49 70 38 332
your dreams our guidance your life abroad our local support
France: Banque Neufl ize OBC, Palais Marie-Christine, 20 Rue de France, Nice. Tel. +33 497 038 332
Spain: ABN AMRO Private Banking, Avenida Jose Banus, Edifi cio Malaga Local 2-B, Marbella, Malaga. Tel. +34 952 90 88 43
More information at www.worldcitizenservices.com or send an e-mail to [email protected]
world citizen serviceslife moves in good company Making more possible
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AA_fullcolourC.epsABN AMRO full-colour for coated paperWidth shield: 20 mmOverlap: 0,05 mm
TechRules: online advice based on experienceTechRules has built on its years of experience in financial advisory services to design an online tool that helps institutions to give their customers the best advice in a cost-efficient way
Founded with the aim of combining extensive financial experience
with the development of new technologies, TechRules has become the
supplier of reference in consultancy and technology for the industriali-
zation of the financial advisory process.
TechRules forms part of a group of companies founded by the Bolívar
family, which provide services in the financial sector: Expert Timing
Systems, TechRules, Efite, Fundación Inversión y Cooperación, Opensea
and Quipu Technology.
TechRules offers financial institutions multi-functional and multi-chan-
nel solutions to improve the customer relationship by making it more
efficient and proactive, not only at the time of sale but also during
subsequent follow-up.
The company provides financial consultancy and the most advanced
technology to improve the quality and efficiency of analysis and advice.
This is the greatest need of all financial institution channels today.
Numerous entities from the national and international financial indus-
try have selected TechRules as their technological partner. Customers
include private banks, retail banks, asset managers, online banks, IFA
networks and family offices.
Integrated solutionUsing its wide-ranging experience in financial advice, TechRules has
developed Tower , an integrated solution that provides financial institu-
tions with the tools to make their business grow by offering customers
quality advice and reducing associated costs.
Designed as a web solution, it enables managers and advisers to
provide a differentiated service by optimizing the generation of invest-
ment proposals, creation, management and follow-up of portfolios and
elaboration of reports.
Tower is easy to use and highly scalable. It enables users to benefit
from a constant desire for functional and technological improvement.
It is a dynamic solution developed with the most modern technology. It
draws on more than 20 years’ experience in financial consultancy and port-
folio management. TechRules understands that technology is only a means
to achieve our main objective: the best financial advice for the customer.
Tower is fully compliant with the regulation in force: MiFID.
Some of Tower’s functionalities:Portfolio ManagerThe Tower portfolio manager enables users to access the most relevant
and updated information on their customers investments, presented
within a homogeneous and dynamic structure. Analysis of the portfolio
returns (following the GIPS® standard), absolute and relative risk, analy-
sis of correlations, asset allocation of the portfolio and origin of profits
and losses, comparison with benchmarks as well as the possibility of
simulating potential changes and even optimising the portfolio.
ReportingA good report offers the opportunity to improve customer relation-
ships by promoting constant communication. The tool allows elaborate
client portfolio reports automatically which increase the process ef-
ficiency: reduction of time and errors.
Model PortfoliosDesigned to help the manager with the construction and monitoring
of model portfolios. Flexible on the definition of components for portfo-
lios, advanced simulation tool and optimisation and very complete
tracking tools.
Investment Profile&ProposalsThrough a centralised system, your company can obtain the customer
profile (appropriateness, investor profile and suitability) and draw up
completely personalised investment proposals starting from an in-
depth knowledge of their capacities, expectations and needs, which are
key for the generation of long-term business.
Client ManagementFull information on your customers with the possibility of managing
commercial activity through a centralised system of personal, financial
and asset information for each one of them.
For further information, please contact
Business Development DepartmentCáceres 228223 MadridSpainTel: +34 91 398 36 73Fax: +34 91 357 50 05Email: [email protected]
Creating value by getting the big picture right With more than 150 years of experience and a dominant position in the Nordic market, SEB is now taking the next step to provide a private banking offering that can compete with top-tier international private banks across the 14 markets where the bank is present
SEB played a major role in the industrial development of the Nordic
region in the last century, as both a credit provider and adviser to
all sectors of the economy. Throughout its history SEB has been
seen as a specialist in asset management and asset advice for
domestic and foreign high-net-worth individuals. SEB Private Bank-
ing manages nearly €32billion, and 28,000 private individuals, trusts
and companies have chosen the bank for its professional wealth
management and high level of service.
Thomas Ericsson, global head of SEB Private Banking, elaborates on
what he believes is the future of private banking: “Our primary goal
is the same as it always has been: to help our clients achieve their
financial goals. We have worked tremendously hard to find new
ways to make this happen. The importance of providing a holistic
customer offering can’t be overstated. “
“Often private banks focus too much on asset management issues. That
starting point might be wrong, not that one should disregard financial
theory and the importance of diversification. Private investors can’t be
handled in the same way as institutional ones. It is surprising that so
little has been done to address this problem. However, at SEB Private
Banking we have addressed this issue in our financial planning process.
This is an in-depth analysis of the client’s total assets and liabilities with
an advisory process that targets client-specific goals and risk factors.
Our modern approach to private banking will facilitate better com-
munication with our clients about complex quantitative issues that are
becoming ever more crucial to high-net-worth individuals as alterna-
tive investments become a greater part of the asset mix. In the end it’s
about finding the right solution for each and every one of our clients.”
Unique platformFew other players can match SEB when it comes to institutional
product resources in the Nordic market. “We have a somewhat
unique platform, with top-ranked analysis and a lot of institutional
products that are of great value for our clients,” says Ericsson. “Our
approach to holistic advice does not in any way mean that we will
not utilize these resources. On the contrary we have intensified
the work of channelling group intelligence and knowledge to our
private banking business.”
For SEB Private Banking this is about providing these products to
clients in the right context. “For example, in our new investment
programmes we can offer our clients the opportunity to invest in
a number of alternative investments and asset classes from across
the globe that are typically not open to other private individuals.
Our clients will benefit from our global relationships, size, purchas-
ing power and our urge to provide state-of-the-art advice. It is
gratifying to see how financial innovations can actually lead to an
investment solution with equity-like expected return but signifi-
cantly lower expected volatility.”
“Our private banking experience is a one-stop shop where the starting point is a thorough analysis of each client’s entire financial situation”
At SEB Private Banking clients can expect a wide range of services
transformed into customized solutions delivered by experienced
staff. Few, if any Nordic private banks can offer the same scope and
depth of solutions as SEB.
Ericsson explains: “Our private banking experience is a one-stop
shop where the starting point is a thorough analysis of each
client’s entire financial situation. We have the capacity to help our
clients with everything from everyday finances to wealth manage-
ment, legal matters, insurance, financing and tax issues. Also we
can adapt the solutions to match individual requirements.”
Open architectureDespite the impressive internal competence, SEB Private Banking
has for long seen the advantages of open architecture and built
up an impressive internal organization for conducting research on
third-party products.
This is natural, says Ericsson. “Everybody in this business should be
humble in the sense that one accepts the fact that competition is
fierce and our number one priority is to make sure that our clients
have the best potential to realize their financial goals. Thus an open
architecture approach with best-of-breed products is essential in
the modern private banking world. But this is nothing new for us.
One must remember that the success of this bank to a large extent
is dependent on the long-term relationships we have had and
continue to have with our clients. Some of our clients have been
with us for generations. This is a great responsibility which we treat
with uttermost respect. It should go without saying that we do all
we can to provide the best possible solutions to them.”
Keeping trackThe small and intimate family office unit is a special team within
private banking with an established track-record of caring for
wealthy families. “It is our aim at SEB to follow our clients in life and
over generations,” says Ericsson. “The family office concept is vast
but is often triggered by an important transition issue such as suc-
cession or sale of the family business. Families often underestimate
how difficult it is to keep track of a diversified fortune and some of
them have the feeling of having lost the big picture of their family
situation. Since we live and breathe these questions and have done
so for more than 150 years it is gratifying to see how more and
more clients appreciate the value added nature of these services.”
Another client group with complex needs which has been in focus
for many private banks is the entrepreneurs. “This is an important
segment also for SEB,” says Ericsson. “For many years we have
worked with entrepreneurs and we can offer specific entrepreneur
services. Often there is a connection between this sort of service and, for
example, our family office offer. Here you can see how we can serve the
client in various stages of life and adapt our value proposition to that.”
For further information, please contact
www.sebgroup.com/privatebankingEmail: [email protected] Tel: +46 8 771 - 625 201 SE
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Thomas Ericsson, global head of Private Banking, SEB
“Our primary goal is the same as it always has been: to help our clients achieve their financial goals. We have worked tremendously hard to find new ways to make this happen. The importance of providing a holistic customer offering can’t be overstated. “
The future of the family officeFor centuries, family offices have been offering their wealthy clients special services. The Sal. Oppenheim Group has entered a whole new league with Oppenheim Vermögenstreuhand, which could be described as Germany’s first corporate family office
When entrepreneurial families sell stakes in their companies, they face
a major challenge. They are confronted with a large inflow of liquid-
ity, which they need to invest for long-term success in different areas.
Advice concerning management of these assets becomes increasingly
complex, and the various wishes of individual family members have to
be harmonized.
The owning family of Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. also experienced a large
inflow of liquidity in 1990, when it sold its shares in Colonia-Versicherung.
It founded what is now one of the oldest family offices in Germany to
manage family assets sustainably together across generations –
Oppenheim Vermögenstreuhand (OVT).
In addition to the Oppenheim owner family, OVT now helps more than
50 other families and institutions to organize, continually optimize and
manage their assets. In so doing, the company has developed from a
single family office, with just one client family, to a multi-family office for
a larger number of clients. OVT has grown to the size of a real corporate
family office.
In-house expertiseA key criterion for a corporate family office is the ability to cover a wide
range of issues with its in-house experts, from strategic asset allocation
through equity investments to real estate investments. With a staff of
over 50, OVT can offer comprehensive management even for extremely
complex assets. In addition to traditional family office services, such as
reporting, management accounting and consulting, OVT’s competence
centre analyses investment products and strategies and prepares invest-
ment decisions. This gives OVT’s clients exclusive access to numerous
experts, for instance in real estate or equity investment.
“Family office is an integral part of our holistic asset management ap-
proach. One key aspect is the fact that clients receive one-stop compre-
hensive, neutral and independent advice for all of their assets and asset
classes,” explains Christopher Freiherr von Oppenheim, personally liable
partner of Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. S. C. A. responsible for the asset
management division.
When a family chooses OVT to manage its assets, the first step for the
family office is to analyse the client’s risk profile. OVT then develops an
investment strategy together with the family on this basis. Not until
these parameters have been established will the experts in the OVT
competence centre select asset managers to implement the strategies.
Legal and tax experts are also involved in this process in addition to
the product experts and those in other areas.
Preserving capitalMost families have one requirement in common: Their prime objective
is capital preservation, with the maximum possible return ranking sec-
ond in terms of priority. For this reason, OVT’s primary focus is on limit-
ing potential risk of loss and preserving capital stock after deductions
for inflation and tax payments. To this end, the family office constantly
monitors the success of the commissioned banks and asset manag-
ers. Reporting and monitoring software specially developed for this
purpose allows the amount of success and risks taken by the service
providers to be measured, negative trends to be recognized early and
added value to be created for the client.
One of the greatest advantages of OVT is its independence; the family
office does not produce or market any investment products itself, nor
does it take the role of asset manager. “OVT is in fact an independ-
ent entity which protects and represents the interests of its clients,”
stresses Oppenheim. OVT thus receives no hidden commission; it is
solely financed through its clients’ fees.
Only a corporate family office like OVT can provide such strengths. If a
family forms its own family office, or several families have their assets
“Family office is an integral part of our holistic asset management approach. One key aspect is the fact that clients receive one-stop comprehensive, neutral and independent advice for all of their assets and asset classes”
Christopher Freiherr von Oppenheim, Personally liable partner of
Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie
managed by a multi-family office, they are unlikely to have the
necessary volume to give them access to experts on special issues.
But it is this opportunity to identify key questions in advance and
to provide correct and timely answers that is increasingly becoming
the deciding factor in the success of the overall assets. Furthermore,
the asset structures within a family are often very complex. So it is
not unusual for a family to have working relationships with over 30
asset managers. After all, assets usually comprise more than just se-
curities; they may also include real estate, equity investments, private
equity or works of art. And many families are made up of different
branches among which the assets are divided. A sophisticated IT
system is necessary to manage and monitor all of these assets ef-
ficiently and report on them to each individual family member, and
OVT has spent years developing just that.
It is usually more cost-effective for a family to have its assets
managed by OVT than by a single family office, due to economies
of scale, not to mention OVT’s many years of experience of all
management processes in connection with accounting or tax and
legal consulting. Clients pay a flat fee for the services, based on the
complexity of the tasks, not the amount of assets.
Laying the foundationsOVT has been heavily involved in providing services for founda-
tions and similar institutions for many years. “We are seeing an ever-
growing awareness, especially among wealthy families and entre-
preneurs, that foundations are one of the keystones of a sustainable
society,” says Oppenheim. Particularly in Germany, experts are talking
of a real boom in foundations. The Sal. Oppenheim Group manages
assets in Germany of more than 130 foundations with a volume total-
ling more than €2 billion.
OVT offers comprehensive advice; in the case of foundations, it works
with the client’s legal and tax advisers on concepts to realize individual
philanthropic ideas and asset strategies, taking into account specific
requirements of the foundation, such as its distribution focus. In ad-
dition, OVT supports its clients in implementing new or developing
existing philanthropic commitments.
OVT provides individual support concepts for asset investment
– both in administrative management and investment strategy.
Risk management is particularly important in the management of
foundation assets, because the capital stock must be preserved.
Foundations also rely on regular income to finance their cause. A
study recently published by the Berlin-based economic publishing
house Fuchsbriefe on quality and service provided by foundation
advisers placed Sal. Oppenheim far ahead of the competition. In the
conclusion to the study, the experts at Fuchsbriefe write, “At the end
of the day, the winning team from Sal. Oppenheim simply outshone
its competitors in all categories. ”
International approachThe Sal. Oppenheim Group has long followed an international
approach in its family office business. This is due to the fact that
wealthy families are increasingly based abroad, and also make cross-
border capital investments. To this end, Sal. Oppenheim strength-
ened the family office business in spring 2008 with an acquisition in
Luxembourg; the company took over the domiciliation business of
Mercuria Services. Sal. Oppenheim bought trust company SGG in
Luxembourg back in 2005, and plans to merge the new acquisition
with its business in the medium term. In the summer of last year Sal.
Oppenheim opened an office in Hong Kong which also offers family
office services. Furthermore, the family company founded a joint ven-
ture in Switzerland last year with the Dr Landert Group, to reinforce
services for families from Switzerland. “This joint venture in Swit-
zerland and the expansion of our range of services in Luxembourg
allows us to considerably extend our existing offering to our clients
internationally too,” explains Oppenheim.
The private banking group aims to expand its commitment to the
management of larger family assets also in the years to come. Sal Op-
penheim sees this business as an integral component of its holistic asset
management. The focus remains on the clients – they stand to benefit
across the globe from even more comprehensive services.
For further information, please contact
Oppenheim Vermögenstreuhand GmbHOppenheimstrasse 1150668 Cologne, GermanyTel: +49 2 21/1 45-2400Fax: +49 2 21/1 45-9 2409Email: info@ovt. de www. ovt. de Sal. Oppenheim Groupwww. sal-oppenheim. com
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Open Architecture for Quality, Innovation and Excellence in Private BankingMarfin Popular Bank, part of the Marfin Investment Group (MIG) of Companies, was created by the triple merger of Laiki Bank, Egnatia Bank and Marfin Bank to become one of the strongest players in the South Eastern Europe region. Based in Cyprus and with presence in more than 15 countries, this new international bank is developing a strong Wealth Management franchise through its Private Banking Division emphasizing in quality, innovation and client service excellence
Marfin Popular Bank, part of the Marfin Investment
Group (MIG) of Companies, was created by the triple
merger of Laiki Bank, Egnatia Bank and Marfin Bank to
become one of the strongest players in the South East-
ern Europe region. Based in Cyprus and with presence
in more than 15 countries, this new international bank
is developing a strong Wealth Management franchise
through its Private Banking Division emphasizing in
quality, innovation and client service excellence.
Private Banking has been developed based on a phi-
losophy of three main building blocks namely The Hu-
man Capital, Innovative and Independent Products &
Services and State of the Art Technology. High caliber
Private Bankers with international experience & train-
ing have been recruited to offer best in class advisory
and portfolio management services to our clients. Cli-
ent products and services choices expands through a
fully open platform in more than 500 funds selections
from the best of breed global providers that undergo
continuous monitoring and due diligence. The tech-
nological platform comprises one of our strongest
competitive advantages developed to support our
open architecture initiatives and allowing maximum
utilization of private banking talent & skills.
Our Private Banking Products & Services offering
to clients covers the space of Traditional Banking,
Global Investment and Wealth Management. More
specifically the Private Banker which is the single
contact relation between the Client and the Bank
is responsible to deal and accommodate all client
financial needs supported by the entirety of the
MPB Group resources, expertise and know how. In the Traditional
Banking space we include services like money transfers, mortgage
& personal loans, current account management and other similar
traditional banking services. In the global investment area we focus
on delivering innovative solutions through discretionary, advisory
and execution only mandates using global asset allocation models
and individual product selections. Relying on our independent
investment strategy team we exploit our extended third party
funds selection capacity as well as our dedicated structuring desk
to produce maximum value for our clients. Finally, our Wealth Man-
agement Division is responsible to provide solutions to our clients’
special project financing requests mainly through Lombard Loans
and design optimum structures corresponding to clients’ Estate,
Financial and Succession Planning needs.
At present moment we manage E3.6 billion of some 2,500 client
groups in Greece and another E1 billion abroad through a total staff
of 80. Assets under Management developed very rapidly over the last
3 years. In 2005 onshore total AUM did not exceed E300 million to
undergo a tremendous increase of more than 12 times in over just 2.5
years period.
This result confirms our vision and strategy and provides enough evi-
dence that we are in the right path for our further development plans.
Our investment process is driven by client risk profile and cash flow
needs. Periodically we discuss and update client profiles in an effort to
ensure that we keep up with changes in our clients investment goals
and risk appetite. Client profile is the main driver in portfolio con-
struction and management. Our portfolio synthesis philosophy is to
suggest and propose positioning in a set of core holdings accompa-
nied by a satellite subset of investment positions dictated by client’s
tolerance levels to risk for yield enhancement reasons. The main core
portfolio will be positioned in traditional investments with high levels
of liquidity reflecting client’s risk profile and other special requests/re-
strictions for geographic, currency and asset class allocation.
Marfin Popular Bank has an open independent platform of over 500
mutual funds of well known, international investment houses in
its radar screen and through continuous close monitoring depicts
the ones that consistently and repeatedly beat benchmarks and
yield real returns. Our commitment and firm strategic decision is
to continue expanding our client selection potential by adding
established and value enhancing choices in the Traditional and
Alternative Funds Universe. The range of funds expands from the
very common main markets value investment space to the highly
specialized boutiques. A thorough due diligence and fund selection
process which is based on regular reviews of fund performance
and fund management mandates and style has been applied as the
main selection filter for our fund proposals to clients.
For further information, please contact
Marfin Private Bank 24 Kifissias Ave 151 25 Maroussi Athens, Greece D. Manailoglou, Group Wealth Management DirectorD. Scapinakis, Head of Sales Tel. +30-210-8170000
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“At present moment we manage E3.6 billion of some 2,500 client groups in Greece and another E1 billion abroad through a total staff of 80. In 2005 onshore total AUM did not exceed E300 million to undergo a tremendous increase of more than 12 times in over a 2.5 years period.”
At the present markets environment which is charac-terized by volatility hikes, macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical risks and low liquidity it seems that a typical equity/bond/cash portfolio or other tradi-tional investments, may not be enough to materialize expected returns and preserve capital. At the same time high deposit rates available in the market that the liquidity crisis has made available from institutions with increased liquidity concerns may also be a threat rather than an opportunity. In this environment our cautious direction to clients is to allocate more funds to cash than usual in order to position themselves for short periods of time exploiting opportunities that exist within an increased volatility environment and control their overall level of risk through specialised short duration products either capital guarantee or partially capital guarantee. Such products will augment the core holdings of an investor’s portfolio ensuring a better long term performance.
Current Investment Climate
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Banco Urquijo’s undisputed reputation as a benchmark of private
banking excellence is backed by more than 130 years of history.
The bank’s new focus on wealth management, on the back of its
acquisition in 2006 by Banco Sabadell Group - the fourth largest bank
in Spain - is already reaping benefits; in 2008 Banco Urquijo was recog-
nized by Euromoney as the second best private bank in Spain.
With the aim of adjusting client investment portfolios to current
market conditions and reducing the overall risk, Banco Urquijo advises
its clients to diversify their investment portfolios with structured
products and alternative investments.
Thus, one of the bank’s main aims
is to preserve capital. Nevertheless,
even in uncertain times, good invest-
ment opportunities may arise. So the
goal of Banco Urquijo is to focus on
monitoring its client’s portfolio risk
and to seek investment opportuni-
ties that diversify and reduce the
overall risk of its client portfolio.
Uniquely efficient market portfolioWith regard to alternative investments, Banco Urquijo dedicates a great
deal of time and effort to analyzing and selecting best-in-class products
for this type of investment. Consequently, it is able to offer clients a
selection of exclusive products such as private equity, real estate and art
funds, private equity funds of funds, hedge funds and funds of hedge
funds. Banco Urquijo is involved in finding real estate investment op-
portunities, paying special attention to the geographic area, the type of
investment (property development/property-related assets), as well as
the type of market (residential, office, shopping mall).
Another key alternative investment target has been renewable energy,
in particular wind power. Banco Urquijo recently launched a private
equity fund aimed at investing in Polish wind farms, taking advantage
of one of the fastest-growing economies that has recently joined the
EU and a new regulatory framework that favours this type of energy by
offering a very attractive yield (10% higher than the average EU yield).
Banco Urquijo offers an extensive range of structured products with
different risk profiles linked to a wide range of underlyings such as
stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, inflation, indexes and hedge
funds, all with different time horizons.
This new phase of Banco Urquijo’s development underscores its strong
commitment to building up long-term relationships with its clients. Its
approach of delivering a uniquely efficient market portfolio with a 360º
relationship with its clients, while meeting each client’s risk profile and
providing an integrated range of products and investment solutions,
has paved the way for Banco Urquijo to be placed first in 13 categories
of the 2008 Euromoney best private banking awards in Spain.
Dedication and innovationIt is in this uncertain economic environment and increasing market volatil-
ity that Banco Urquijo’s long-standing commitment towards understand-
ing and meeting its clients’ needs comes into its own. To achieve this goal,
Banco Urquijo provides an integrated
range of products and services adapt-
ed to current market conditions.
The discretionary asset management
service provided by Urquijo Gestión
(Banco Urquijo’s asset management
unit) ensures that its client invest-
ment portfolios are professionally
managed by a team with a proven
track record. In collaboration with
the client’s private banker, the invest-
ment manager draws up a client risk
profile and the client’s portfolio is managed accordingly. Banco Urquijo
has developed its own innovative risk management tools to ensure that
each client portfolio is managed within its risk profile framework.
Banco Urquijo’s client portfolios are the result of its open architecture
policy and a team of product specialists (one product specialist for
every two private bankers) who implement this policy by analyzing and
selecting best-in-class products and by providing technical support to
private bankers so that they can focus on strengthening their relation-
ship with their present clients and gaining new ones.
By building up this team of product specialists, Banco Urquijo has been
able to position itself at the cutting edge of the Spanish private bank-
ing Industry, providing close support to private bankers and clients.
Specialist approach allows Banco Urquijo to weather market volatilityIn an uncertain economic environment, with increasing market volatility, Banco Urquijo’s long-standing commitment towards understanding and meeting its client’s needs comes into its own
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