Leader in ethics, leader in managing wealth

Absolute discretion; the strength of character that engenders trust; the emotional intelligence that enables one to gauge a client’s needs, wants and insecurities; and a keen financial mind. Such are qualities that distinguish a top private banker. These qualities, or at least their appearance, have for eight centuries opened the doors of the wealthy and given private bankers access to the money-drenched souls of the super-rich, from the doges of Venice, Belgian merchants, European royal families, American industry tycoons and third-world rulers to dot.com billionaires and post-communist oligarchs in Russia and China. When asked about their interaction with high net-worth individuals in the current era, private bankers at the start of this year still, as they did a decade ago, talk about advising their clients on expanding and preserving their wealth, about assessing their conservative, moderate or aggressive risk appetites and, quite a bit, about asset classes and diversification of