Post by ukipa on May 30, 2014 6:56:32 GMT 4
Private banking: The personal touch
With the rich getting richer, competition among private banks has never been so intense. While others live in the world of call centers and trying to remember their pin numbers, moving to a private bank opens the door to a bespoke, concierge-style service and nice little perks. For some, of course, the cachet of being able to flash a black card is reason enough to join.
High street banks
If you are looking to dip your toes into upmarket banking then you may want to go for one of the high-end services offered by the well-known high-street banks. HSBC Premier, NatWest Black Account and RBS Private are among the many accounts on offer. All provide a broadly similar range of services, with a personal “relationship manager” who will deal with your day-to-day banking needs, plus benefits such as a service to facilitate concert and restaurant bookings, airport lounge access and often home and mobile insurance too. The eligibility criteria for these accounts vary from bank to bank but are all roughly in the same ballpark. HSBC Premier asks for at least €50,000 to be placed on deposit, or a minimum salary of €100,000 a year.
Coutts
Coutts is famously the Queen’s bank, and its name alone is synonymous with the world of private banking, aristocracy and the wealthy British elite. For many, having a Coutts card is the only acceptable symbol of financial and social pedigree. Not for them the shame of pulling out a bog-standard RBS visa card – although in fact a Coutts card is an RBS visa card because Coutts has been part of RBS since 2000. Regardless of this, Coutts offers a quintessential private banking experience, with clients having access to a Coutts private banker for their day-to-day needs, as well as a wealth manager for investment advice. Interested? The criterion for eligibility is an easy round number – customers need to have €1 million in investable assets.
C Hoare & Co
While Coutts is, for many, a byword for private banking, to the cognoscenti it’s all about C Hoare & Co. This is a truly private bank, owned by the same family since 1672, and now in its 11th generation of banking. Remarkably, the family has unlimited personal liability so, if anything goes wrong, it is liable for your cash. Chief executive Jeremy Marshall said C Hoare & Co is all about “old-fashioned relationship private banking”. Private bankers need to be able to keep a secret, and one secret Marshall was keeping when he spoke to CNN was the bank’s eligibility criteria. But he did say that the bank looks for “people who would benefit from our full range of services”. Make of that what you will.
With the rich getting richer, competition among private banks has never been so intense. While others live in the world of call centers and trying to remember their pin numbers, moving to a private bank opens the door to a bespoke, concierge-style service and nice little perks. For some, of course, the cachet of being able to flash a black card is reason enough to join.
High street banks
If you are looking to dip your toes into upmarket banking then you may want to go for one of the high-end services offered by the well-known high-street banks. HSBC Premier, NatWest Black Account and RBS Private are among the many accounts on offer. All provide a broadly similar range of services, with a personal “relationship manager” who will deal with your day-to-day banking needs, plus benefits such as a service to facilitate concert and restaurant bookings, airport lounge access and often home and mobile insurance too. The eligibility criteria for these accounts vary from bank to bank but are all roughly in the same ballpark. HSBC Premier asks for at least €50,000 to be placed on deposit, or a minimum salary of €100,000 a year.
Coutts
Coutts is famously the Queen’s bank, and its name alone is synonymous with the world of private banking, aristocracy and the wealthy British elite. For many, having a Coutts card is the only acceptable symbol of financial and social pedigree. Not for them the shame of pulling out a bog-standard RBS visa card – although in fact a Coutts card is an RBS visa card because Coutts has been part of RBS since 2000. Regardless of this, Coutts offers a quintessential private banking experience, with clients having access to a Coutts private banker for their day-to-day needs, as well as a wealth manager for investment advice. Interested? The criterion for eligibility is an easy round number – customers need to have €1 million in investable assets.
C Hoare & Co
While Coutts is, for many, a byword for private banking, to the cognoscenti it’s all about C Hoare & Co. This is a truly private bank, owned by the same family since 1672, and now in its 11th generation of banking. Remarkably, the family has unlimited personal liability so, if anything goes wrong, it is liable for your cash. Chief executive Jeremy Marshall said C Hoare & Co is all about “old-fashioned relationship private banking”. Private bankers need to be able to keep a secret, and one secret Marshall was keeping when he spoke to CNN was the bank’s eligibility criteria. But he did say that the bank looks for “people who would benefit from our full range of services”. Make of that what you will.