Wealthy investors concerned about volatile equity markets have begun to look more to the long term over the past few years, according to Lloyds TSB Bank regional chief executive Stephen Richards Evans.
'There is a willingness now to look at investment not as a trading strategy. It is more a long-term outlook,' he says.
'At the moment, trying to make any sort of investment is like trying to catch the proverbial falling knife. It is very sharp and it is falling from a great height.'
Mr Richards Evans says his bank's wealthy clients are typically first or second-generation wealth owners. As a leading provider of overseas property finance, Lloyds does not restrict its services to clients of high net worth but serves any client who meets the bank's credit requirements.
Falling equity markets have steered clients away from trying to achieve short-term profits, especially in equities and foreign exchange, he says.
'They have had a sharp reminder that a trading strategy for investment might not be the best strategy.'