Private Banking: Building a Culture of Excellence

Preface

Can an industry steeped in tradition adapt to an ever-faster changing business environment? The numerous challenges facing private banking, which are elaborated upon here, have arisen over many years. But the urgency with which these must be confronted has taken on a whole new meaning since the financial turmoil that made itself felt in all areas of financial services. This made the timing of this book especially meaningful.

I started to write this book in early 2008, on the eve of a period that would raise fundamental questions about the future of a business that has survived, literally, centuries. Today private banking is being shaken to its core by global events. These include volatile financial markets and the new wealth being created in developing regions of the world, offering not only tremendous opportunities but also potential risk factors to consider. Meanwhile, partly as a result of past crises, banks worldwide now face the challenges imposed by new regulatory regimes. These factors have contributed to a sense of urgency driving changes within our industry. Not only has the pace of change accelerated but the scope of potential issues banks face today is also enormously broad. This is affecting how the business adapts: Should a private bank act with uncertainty or wait for the dust to settle and risk losing out on key opportunities that accompany these changes? A period of rapid growth was followed by widespread setbacks, giving rise to a desire to make the business ...