Best Global Private Bank - Citi Private Bank

As millions lost billions in 2008, “regaining clients’ trust” became a new mantra.

Since then, ever more wealth managers have increased their bench strength of relationship managers, changed their roster of asset managers, revamped their compensation systems, ventured Far East or focused on their core capabilities. As such, they have changed the ‘hardware’ of their businesses: the visible aspects of their operating model.

But Citi Private Bank has also made big leaps on the ‘software’ side: culture and leadership. Although intangible, they have unleashed powerful tailwinds in creating what is now a widely admired global giant with distinct footprints in every major wealth market.

This has happened under the stewardship of Jane Fraser. She sees herself as a passionate steward of an evolving ‘client franchise’ that puts clients at the heart of the business. “Clients are far more cautious now,” she says. “Our job is to protect and promote their interests.”

The resulting flight to quality, safety and simplicity need not dumb down the results. She has streamlined the client base to promote more intensive engagement. She has broadened and deepened the investment expertise to ensure that today’s volatility can also be a concealed opportunity for those who want to capitalise on it. She has re-jigged staff compensation, to underline that clients are partners. The heads-I-win- tails-you-lose fee structure is history.

She recognises that promoting a partnership ethos is a matter of hard graft, not weasel words. This much was clear from the many practical anecdotes I heard when I met Ms Fraser in September. I can only attribute her success to a holistic approach that invariable seeks to:

• Raise the performance bar: up the ante, show restless curiosity for new ideas and be self aware

• Lead the leaders: lead by being a practical visionary through example and achievement, and influence colleagues upwards, sideways and downwards via an unusual degree of common sense

• Set the tone: make sense of ambiguity, walk the talk and recognise that the genius of her business strategy is in the execution, not the design

• Encourage teamwork: set stretch goals, give people autonomy and space to get on with their delivery, and attribute success to teamwork, not a lone gun

I went away feeling that I had just met a rare leader who can remain close to the heartbeat of her clients while riding the turbulent waves of the markets.