RELATIONSHIP is a word that comes up repeatedly in conversation with private bankers.
Clients with amounts of more than US$1 million (about HK$7.72 million) to invest will not tolerate being treated as just another account number.
'First and foremost, you value the relationship rather than churning the account,' Kathryn Shih, director of private and trust banking at Swiss Bank, said.
'We shy away from doing transactions for the sake of it. We believe we should give the client what he wants and what we both feel is good for him. In the long run, if the relationship is strong, it can generate profitability back to the bank.' The importance placed on relationship is one of the reasons for the widespread tailoring of investment packages for private bank clients.
It flows through to other areas such as staff training, according to Ms Shih.
'We pride ourselves on being professional private bankers. We take a lot of effort with training. Once we have hired someone, we give them internal training, often regional training in different products and skills and we send them to our Swiss offices.' Swiss Bank private bankers are trained in many areas of the bank's business to maximise their efficiency and the opportunities for cross selling.