Global Private Banking Awards 2016: Winners’ Profiles – National Winners (Western Europe)

Best Private Bank in Belgium
KBC Private Banking

KBC Private Banking has won the award for Belgium for the third consecutive year, after two ‘highly commended’ nominations in 2012 and 2013. 

KBC’s approach to private banking is based on a H2H (human-on-human) omni-channel strategy, in which digital tools are used to facilitate and improve human interaction. For example, the bank has recently introduced a new ‘co-view’ feature to allow private bankers to see the same screen as the client, facilitating remote communications or face-to-face meetings using a tablet or PC. In addition, a new ‘e-proposal’ system enables private bankers to forward investment proposals via KBC Invest, and have them signed digitally.

“That our client-centric, omni-channel approach works is proved by our client satisfaction survey results. Omni-channel clients give KBC a higher NPS [net promoter score] than single-channel clients who just use their local branch or only bank online,” says Regine Debeuckelaere, general manager for wealthy individuals.

KBC has responded to the current market environment by adapting its product offering. In a context of low interest rates, low growth and rising correlation between asset classes, there was a need to extend the classic portfolio composition. The bank adopted a number of strategies aimed at increasing diversification and income, following “a multi-manager, multi-style and multi-vehicle approach”. 

In terms of recent innovations, KBC has started the referral of clients to areas that traditionally have not fallen under the private banking remit, such as non-life insurance and payments. 

“Specifically, we have assigned insurance experts with upscale expertise to the branches. As the main integrated bank-insurance group in Belgium, clients can get all the services they need from their private banker,” she adds. PG

Best Private Bank in France
Best Private Bank in the Netherlands
ABN AMRO

Under the stewardship of the affable CEO Jeroen Rijpkema, ABN Amro Private Banking International is renewing its focus on Europe’s heartlands. It has recently integrated its activities in the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey into a single Guernsey office and has obtained a new banking licence in Spain, working with wealthy clients who are resident on the Costas in particular. Previously, ABN had to refer these customers to other offices in Europe, but is now able to welcome them into its dedicated branch in Marbella.

ABN has come under some criticism among the private banking community because it has pulled away from the Swiss market, and some Zurich-based consultants feel a true European private bank must have a presence in the Alpine country. But it is a sign of Mr Rijpkema’s confidence in his business plan that he believes in the future of an onshore private banking business model, without the traditional secrecy-led business on which some competitors have previously relied.

Assets managed for private clients have moved up by nearly $10bn in 2015 to nudge the $200bn barrier, although net new money figures are down. The Dutch business remains strong, as does the bank’s Neuflize franchise in France, known for its regional penetration and its targeting of occupation-specific client groups.

The question for most ABN Amro watchers is what will be the effect of last year’s IPO in terms of freeing up the bank for further expansion. The Asian business was until recently seen as an experiment, but some recent hires suggest the Dutch bank also means business in an Asian private banking market previously dominated by the Swiss giants.

Portfolio management, headed up by chief investment officer Didier Duret, is also a key differentiator for the private banking arm. YB

Best Private Bank in Luxembourg
KBL European Private Bankers

As a pan-European private banking group founded in 1949 and operating in 50 cities, KBL epb defines itself as “Europe’s only network of boutique private banks”. The institution builds on the heritage and track record of its domestic brands, combining local knowledge with cross-border expertise. 

Client assets grew by more than 8 per cent last year to €49bn ($54bn) reflecting the bank’s plan of a long-term development strategy, pursued through both organic and external growth. 

Over the past 18 months, the bank deepened its existing footprint in core markets. In Belgium it acquired UBS, where KBL epb’s Belgian affiliate Puilaetco Dewaay now manages more than €10bn in client assets. In the UK, the group’s UK affiliate Brown Shipley purchased Hampton Dean, a chartered independent firm of financial planners, and in the Netherlands KBL epb bought Insinger de Beaufort, with the intention of merging it with the group’s private bank Theodoor Gilissen.

“Such external growth accelerates the expansion of assets under management, providing greater scale at a time when that is of special importance in our sector,” states Yves Stein, Group CEO at KBL epb.

“Today, we continue to review additional acquisition opportunities in our core markets, and will seize them when and if conditions are right,” he says, explaining that the bank’s focus is on providing clients with “proximity, agility and personalised service”. 

KBL epb’s latest initiatives are clearly directed to enhancing its business model and client service, as needed to compete in the post private banking secrecy world.

Last year it signed a strategic partnership agreement with Lombard Odier intended to enhance its IT and operations activities. “Moving forward, we will be much better equipped to respond to rapidly evolving client needs, enhancing our ability to meet those requirements in a more international and transparent environment,” says Mr Stein.

It also launched the group’s in-house fund range Richelieu Investment Funds, introducing a single brand for its funds, managed by an internal team of multi-local investment specialists.

Further investments in the KBL epb Group University aim at supporting employee development during the “transformative period” for the European private banking sector.

While private banking is the group’s core business, the Institutional & Professional Services business line – serving family offices, foundations, external asset managers and investment funds – also continues to make an important revenue contribution, according to Mr Stein. “Our ability to serve institutional and professional clients completes the wealth management value chain, positioning KBL epb as a true ‘one-stop shop’.” ET

Best Private Bank in Germany
Berenberg

Berenberg can trace its roots back to 1590, when the firm was established in Hamburg.  It is the oldest owner-managed private bank in Germany and one of the oldest banks in the world. The bank has transformed itself into an international advisory firm, and has won this award for six consecutive years.

Over the last few years, it has upgraded its core competences, establishing a notable presence in the financial centres of Frankfurt, London, New York and Zurich.

In its 425-year life, Berenberg has learned that the only constant in private banking is change. 

“In light of digitalisation, low interest rates, and new regulatory requirements, the transformation of private banking, as we used to know it, has truly just begun,” says Hans-Walter Peters, spokesman for the managing partners. He believes that change brings opportunities for players who “stick to their values and, simultaneously boldly embrace new possibilities”. 

For Berenberg this means continuous investment in key areas such as quality of service, infrastructure and business expansion.

When it comes to segmenting its clients, Berenberg focuses on the origin of their wealth, as opposed to the size of their assets. The bank has recently launched a centre of competence for entrepreneurs, to support this particular client segment by offering specialist advice on issues such as succession planning, ownership and asset protection. 

“Entrepreneurs are often confronted with the interactions between the business and the private sphere. They see company and private assets as one, have little time, want to preserve the achieved assets in the long-term, and want to ensure balanced interests in the family,” explains Mr Peters, adding the bank has also established similar support platforms for foundations and family offices.

As a direct result of its business expansion strategy, Berenberg reported a record net profit last year, rising from €40m ($45m) in 2014 to €104m in 2015. AuM increased by 11 per cent to €40.1bn. In line with the growth of its business, the bank increased the number of employees further, from 1250 to 1330. PG

Best Private Bank in the UK
Best Initiative of the Year in Client-facing Technology 
Best Private Bank for Philanthropy Services
Coutts 

Coutts, banker to Britain’s royal family, has refocused its business on UK clients, having sold off Asian and Swiss private banking arms.

Under the stewardship of Peter Flavel, recently recruited as chief executive, the London-based bank is making sure all basic building blocks in terms of banking and customer contact are in place before standardising an investment process under chief investment officer Alan Higgins, to make sure the same asset allocation and investment menu is available nationwide. 

Previously, there was an element of each relationship manager having a much larger influence on the portfolios of their private clients. This will no longer be the case under Mr Flavel, who wants to make sure there is no deviation from the process laid down by Mr Higgins and his team of almost 200 investment staff, who have overseen a range of top quartile investment products. 

Currently a quarter of the £60bn ($73bn) which Coutts’ clients hold with the bank is put to work in investment strategies, but this number is “growing strongly”, says Mr Flavel and the aim is to make the bank’s investments even more attractive to the clients. 

Another plank of his expansion plan is to expand borrowing behaviours of Coutts’ clientele, some of whom are “heritage” investors belonging to blue-blooded landed gentry, but an increasing segment of whom are entertainers, sports people and entrepreneurs. Increasing referrals between retail and commercial bank NatWest and its private sister arm Coutts and collaboration between the two on structuring investments for wealthy entrepreneurs is also part of the Australian’s blueprint. 

Coutts prides itself in targeting clearly defined client groups, including professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, international customers, entertainers, sports people and landowners, and tailoring services to each segment according to their needs and habits. 

Crucial to dealing with some of this younger audience is the bank’s digitisation programme, in which Coutts has so far invested £30m ($36.5bn). “We are increasingly delivering much more content through video,” says Mr Flavel. “This is a better and much more efficient way to get out more content to our clients.”

While the international footprint has been reduced from a geographical perspective, the bank will continue to serve its growing base of clients who have “connectivity” to the UK, currently accounting for 20 per cent of the business. YB

Best Private Bank in Switzerland
Best Private Bank in Europe
Pictet Wealth Management

For Pictet, which recently shook off its old unlimited liability partnership structure in favour of a less secretive approach, Europe is seen as the key strategic region for expansion, employing nearly 1000 staff in the old continent.

European hubs where the Swiss bank is stepping up its presence include Luxembourg, where Pictet has had a presence since 1989. Indeed the group’s Luxembourg bank supervises Pictet’s banking branches in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, as well as Hong Kong.

Pictet’s European arm has continued to grow in headcount and assets. Pictet’s Luxembourg office has recently launched Pictet Technologies, a “financial technologies factory”, established to serve group needs for IT developments. Pictet says the new start-up-style company will hire 30 IT specialists by the end of 2016 and up to 80 by the end of 2020.

Pictet has added 15 staff in France during the last 12 months, while increased regional coverage of Germany has benefited from new hires of specialist teams, with further expansion under consideration. The Italian focus has been mainly in the country’s north, following the opening of an office in Verona in 2015, strengthening the bank’s presence in one of Italy’s most prosperous regions.

Pictet Wealth Management has also been busy expanding in London, with particular emphasis on hiring senior bankers, adding 12 staff in 2014 and another six in the first half of 2015, prior to moving to new offices twice the size of previous accommodation. YB