This survey is designed to provide a combined qualitative and quantitative review of the best services in private banking, organized by region and by areas of service. It also aims to be an informative guide for high-net-worth individuals on the range of service providers that are available. Our 38 categories are designed to reflect the strengths of both local niche companies and global firms.
Through the structure of the survey questionnaire and the way in which scores were calculated, the top firms are those that provide the most services and the highest level with the greatest degree of success.
Conducting the survey posed some challenges. Most important, as private banking is a secretive business, it is difficult to analyze. Nonetheless, the results we have produced are as clear as the information we received.
For this survey, private banking is defined as banking services that are provided to wealthy clients. In order to make fair comparisons of quality services in different disciplines we have ranked service providers alongside each other regardless of whether they would describe themselves as law firms, banks or consultancies. That is because in each category, irrespective of a firm's self-definition, it is competing with the other firms listed for the same clients.