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Wealth manager


Wealth management – including private banking and private client broking

Where?

Branches, offices, City of London and international locations.

Employers?

Major banking groups, specialist private banks, some overlap with IFA groups, accountants and solicitors.

Where does the role fit in?

The more money people have, the more complex the challenges they face in managing it successfully. This is where wealth management comes in.

Banks have effectively split the management of wealthy individuals into two main areas:

  • Premier banking – Wealthy individuals require special services such as tax planning and investment advice, together with much more detailed advice than less wealthy customers. These people are usually top earners and are looking to make the most of their savings and investments. Such customers are referred to as High Net Worth clients. Premier banking groups are found in all the major banks. In the main, the job deals with traditional banking services.
  • Private banking – Private banking usually involves a close relationship between the banker and their client, who will be very wealthy indeed, with £5 million or more in investments. However, making money for the client is not always the challenge. Often, what the very wealthiest people require is wealth protection, not risky growth. They simply want their wealth to be maintained, with any profits being used to cover tax and inflation. Such individuals now tend to be called Ultra High Net Worth customers. All the big banks have private banking divisions, but in addition there are many large and small specialist private banking groups – from major Swiss banks with hundreds of thousands of customers to very exclusive banks with only a few hundred customers. At this end of the spectrum, banking services start to overlap with financial advisory services.

    There is a third area that relates to both of the above:

  • Private client broking – providing stockbroking services to wealthy individuals. Banks such as Barclays have acquired specialist broking firms of this type to add to their private banking/wealth management divisions. Effectively, the bank becomes the client’s personal portfolio manager, looking after both their cash positions (banking) and their investment portfolio (via the broking arm). Overseas investment banks also compete for this business, as do a small number of specialist broking firms. The jobs here are closer to mainstream stockbroking than mainstream banking.

What you do

The key is to understand the client. Through interviews and analysis of their financial positions, you will come up with a strategy to achieve the outcome they want. For premier customers this may involve providing standard banking services, access to high-return investment funds and some limited stockbroking services. For private customers there is much more involvement with portfolio planning and broking services. Certainly for private banking, there will be discussions on how to manage tax liabilities.

Liaison with other financial and legal professionals is usually a major part of the job. Also important is providing access to the bank's top portfolio managers, research analysts and market commentators – either directly, or by acting as the intermediary.

There is also lots of 'liaison' with clients – often on the golf course, the grandstand at the race course, or even on a yacht during Cowes Week!

What you need to get the job

In premier banking, you can either be recruited directly into customer service and sales positions, or you can start out in a general customer service or sales role in the branch network and then move into premier banking as part of your career development.

For private banking and private client broking, the starting point will usually be a degree in a relevant subject – although practically any subject would suffice for the right person.  Relevant degrees could be:

  • accountancy
  • finance
  • business studies/administration/management
  • financial services

In these areas, people skills can be more important than qualifications.  Potential candidates will therefore need to show evidence of the following:

  • strong communication and listening skills
  • networking and relationship-building skills, persuasiveness, determination, the ability to work in a team
  • self-motivation and organisation, accuracy and attention to detail, high levels of numeracy

For private bankers in particular, language skills are increasingly important, since most of the specialist private banking groups have an international client base. So, even if you can’t speak the same language, you have to have a cultural understanding of their different motivations and requirements. In contrast, premier bankers will generally only be dealing with a domestic client base.

Obviously, you will need to have excellent written English and good maths, but above all you must have a confident demeanour. Most of the time, you will be dealing with senior executives, but you never know – you could find yourself looking after a musician or a footballer. Either way, you have to be able to inspire confidence in these very different types of people whilst remaining the epitome of professionalism at all times.

Career prospects

As in other forms of financial advisory work, the main progression is from handling the more straightforward issues to dealing with highly complex requirements on behalf of clients who, usually, have even more money to invest.

Premier banking tends to be a more complex job, with more time spent on developing the right mix of products for the customer, drawing on the specialists within the bank to provide expert advice on the various options that are available. Over time, you can either develop a role as a banker in premier banking or concentrate on advisory and sales work – in effect, developing your skills as a financial adviser. Another path is to move into the even higher-value private banking group, which in general will pay more for the more complex relationships that have to be managed.

Financial advisory work, mortgage advisory work (especially at the so-called 'jumbo' mortgage end of the market) and compliance roles are all potential career options for people working in the premier banking division.

Private bankers and private client brokers have the same options as people working in the premier bank, and they can also choose from a vast number of highly specialised trades, such as advising on property investments. In addition, the option is always there to move into one of the specialisms that support the private banking or private client role, such as portfolio management (see Investment management ), broking (see Trader), or even financial research (Financial analyst). However, the reality is that private bankers and private client brokers are relationship managers, so they tend to stay in the same line of business, handling progressively wealthier clients.

Private bankers and private client brokers can often start out as assistants to a relationship team. This is a good time to learn the business and take the regulatory qualifications required.

Qualifications and career progression

Relationship managers in the premier banking group follow a similar path to any other customer service and sales adviser in the bank, acquiring qualifications that demonstrate understanding of the general financial services and customer care environment in the UK. Examples would be the  Certificate in Regulated Customer Care (CertRCC), with its emphasis on Treating Customers Fairly (TCF), the Diploma for Financial Advisers (DipFA), or the Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice (CeMAP®).

In addition to these 'must have' regulatory qualifications, many banks will expect premier and private bankers to develop a broad overview of the entire range of banking products, since their customers will demand access to all the tools available.

For formal management trainee programmes in these areas, you may well be expected to take the Professional Certificate in Banking (PCertB®) or the degree programme offered by the ifs. The degree programme leads to the BSc Hons degree – see BSc (Hons) in Banking Practice and Management.

Income

Starting salaries

These vary from role to role, but are broadly as set out below.

Plus the potential for joining bonuses on entry (in the region of £2,000), plus the potential of bonuses during training of up to 20% of salary.

£15,000–£25,000 as a customer service adviser in the premier banking division of a major bank.

£18,000–£30,000 in salary plus bonuses, as an early-career relationship manager in the premier banking group, based in the branch network.

£20,000–£35,000 in salary plus bonuses, as an assistant in either a private bank or a private client brokerage.

Career incomes – for those staying in the branch network

£30,000–£45,000 plus bonus as an experienced relationship manager in the premier bank.

£35,000–£50,000 basic, and £90,000–£100,000 OTE, plus car and other benefits, as a financial adviser in the 'wealth arm' of a major banking group. 

£70,000–£90,000 plus bonus for managers in the private banking group of a large bank..

£100,000+ plus bonus for successful private client broker relationship managers and for senior managers in private banking groups.