corporate finance Kleinwort Hambros: private banking spotlight
Entrepreneurs, business owner managers, and families all look to Kleinwort Hambros’ banking experts for timely advice on managing and passing on their wealth
Several centuries spent discretely looking after people’s money gives Kleinwort Hambros unique experience on the management of wealth. Relationships with its clients are strong and long lasting.
“Clients must feel well looked after,” said Rebecca Constable, director, private banking at Kleinwort Hambros. “For our clients, private banking is all about having a personal relationship with someone you trust and who will be with you for the long term.”
Kleinwort Hambros offers wealth management, banking, lending, financial planning and a number of other specialised services. Broadly speaking, the bank has three main types of client: entrepreneurs and owner managers of private businesses, senior executives and board members of large and multinational companies, and families focused on inter-generational wealth management.
“Our clients often embrace more than one or all of these groups,” said Paul Kearney, managing director at Kleinwort Hambros. “And all three groups are very well represented in the Thames Valley and Solent region.”
Clear focus after merger
Kleinwort Hambros is focusing on expanding its regional base as it marks one year from the 2017 legal completion of a merger announced in 2016. Kleinwort Benson, in business since 1786, and Hambros, which began in 1839, merged under the ownership of Societe Generale.
The global Societe Generale group has 150,000 employees based at 67 locations in 31 countries. In the UK, it has around 900 employees looking after £17 billion of assets under management. As well as Newbury, the bank has offices in London, Cambridge, Leeds and Edinburgh and operations in Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar.
Ensuring the merger was completed smoothly for clients and staff has been the priority. “The initial results from our latest customer satisfaction survey shows we have maintained client service levels over the past two years,” said Kearney.
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The merger made commercial sense and puts the bank on a solid footing for the future. “The nature of banking has changed over the past 10 years, particularly the technology and regulatory landscape. Financial services businesses need to scale up and the merger created the perfect opportunity for us to have a larger presence in the private banking sector,” said Kearney.
But for Kleinwort Hambros, it’s not about being the biggest on the block. “Our clients are less concerned about our size than the service we offer them,” Kearney emphasised.
Constable added: “The merger was a very good cultural fit – similar employee attitudes, a complementary client base and complementary products. Bringing the two banks together enhances what we can offer in wealth management.”
Regional focus
At one time, the former Kleinwort Benson was one of Newbury’s largest employers with an administration and human resources office in nearby Speen. By coincidence, Hambros also had an office in the town, and these have now co-located.
“Newbury is an ideal location for the
Thames Valley and the Solent,” said Constable. “The town is at a crossroads between the M4 and A34, giving us really good access to our clients across the region.”
The bank’s Newbury-based team acts as a ‘gateway’ for clients to access Kleinwort Hambros’ national and international network of private wealth specialists. Face-to-face client contact is at the heart of its relationships. “We don’t sit at our desks all day, that’s not our business model. We spend most of our time with our clients, helping to make their financial lives easier,” said Kearney.
Having an office covering the Thames Valley and Solent underlines the bank’s long-term commitment to the region. “We have always worked very closely with the local business community and local professional advisers,” noted Constable.
Entrepreneur support
For local businesses, Kleinwort Hambros sees its role as giving advice to owners and senior executives whenever they need it during both corporate and personal lifecycles. For early-stage businesses, the bank usually provides support, ideas and networking contacts, rather than funding.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 Daniel Way, Rebecca Constable, Jeremy Hill and Roger Plummer
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