Why family focus is key to Pictet banker in building client relationship

Private banker Claude Haberer takes a broader view of the client relationship, instilling in his team of asset managers the need to nurture relationships with families to help play a role as wealth is passed on to the next generation.

Haberer's approach, which goes beyond the focus on rich individuals, may well be shaped by personal experience. Shortly after the death of a tycoon client in Hong Kong, the businessman's son pulled out the family's money. Being the second-generation leader of the business, he had had his own ideas on investments and the bankers he wanted to manage them.

For Haberer, the Asia-Pacific head of Pictet Wealth Management, the building of long-term relationships with ultra-wealthy families is a key priority for his team at the Switzerland-based bank.

Pictet is an institution that well understands the importance of families retaining wealth - and the need to put paid to the Chinese saying that wealth does not pass three generations. Co-founded by the Pictet family in 1805, the bank is now in the hands of the eighth generation of family partners. Among the current eight partners, two are family members - Nicolas Pictet and Marc Pictet.

Headquartered in Geneva, the Pictet group has more than 3,600 staff and manages more than US$430 billion for clients. The minimum asset requirement for its private banking clients in Asia is US$3 million. It operates 26 offices in 17 countries in Europe and Asia.

Haberer has been in the banking industry for more than 30 years. The Frenchman, formerly with BNP Paribas, had worked in a number of departments at the bank's Paris headquarters, in addition to postings to Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. He joined Pictet in 2011 to take up his current role.