Private Banking - “How it’s done in the States”
Finance, Uncategorized September 4th, 2007Last week, Forbes magazine published a piece I submitted for their Polish edition on recent trends in the private banking industry in the U.S. It’s a two-pager in their special report on private banking, also available here. The title literally translates to “How it’s done in the States” - private banking, that is.
So how is it done? I focused on new trends in wealth management - specifically, the push to establish more internationally-diversified portfolios across all asset classes, not just equities. Alternative investments, for example, are no longer a U.S. playing field for America’s wealthiest; if you want to, you can invest in regionally-focused hedge funds and P.E. funds that will turn up your exposure to a given industry sector in a specific geography that you might be interested in. I also discussed the popularity of structured investments as a hedging tool that also allows investors to gain measured exposure to new markets, as well as ETFs. Both have become much more popular in wealth management, the key driver being diversification, esp. internationally.
On the services side, I discussed the trend toward a more holistic approach to customer service in private banking. America’s baby boomers are getting older and retiring, which means that they are less focused on growing their wealth and more focused on how to, for example, transfer it to the next generation and make the most of it before they die. This means that their private banker must know more than just how to multiply their wealth. Estate planning, retirement planning, philanthropy and multi-generational wealth management are increasingly becoming more important to a large clientele who want a one-stop shop for their wealth management needs (even if they currently have more than one private banker - which most do!).
It is amazing how much one can learn about an industry just by writing an article about it - especially for a publication like Forbes. It is a fascinating, and without a doubt a growing industry that is well worth following.
