The number of people in the UK with a tidy sum to invest is increasing - statistics put one in ten of the working population with more than £50,000 to invest. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has seized the moment and today sees the launch of its private banking and wealth management service, NatWest Private Banking, which aims directly at the UK's growing number of affluent investors.
RBS, which took over NatWest earlier this year, said the new private banking service would target investors with between £75,000 to £500,000 of liquid assets, thus aiming one financial level below its existing private bank Coutts. It expects to entice around 100,000 customers in its first three years.
Paul Feeney, managing director of NatWest Private Banking, said: 'These investors are a fast growing group but in the past have fallen between two camps. On the one hand there was retail banking and on the other hand were private banks like Coutts. This is aimed very much at being a face-to-face service: often investors need just as much advice if they have a few hundred thousand to invest as if they had a million pounds.' Cameron McPhail, chief executive of RBS, added: 'It is what NatWest's more affluent customers have been crying out for. It brings together tax, banking and financial planning expertise to create a one-stop wealth management service.'
NatWest Private Banking will start with 100 dedicated
private bankers who will provide investment management,
banking and financial planning advice. NatWest Private
Banking has appointed about 10 fund managers to run
funds in core asset classes such as European and US
equities. The service will also include a range of
bond funds.
NatWest is not alone in targeting the affluent and its initiative follows hot on the heels of Credit Suisse's online financial services portal, launched last month, and HSBC and Merrill Lynch are also set to launch an online joint venture aimed at non-US clients with more than £68,000 to invest. However, the key element of NatWest Private Banking, says RBS, is its provision of a personal service with access to private bankers, rather than being Internet-based.
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