Peter White

Managing director, Citigroup Private Bank

Peter White confesses to having no financial background and very little financial knowledge. Yet for the past four-and-a-half years, he has been managing director of Citigroup Private Bank’s family advisory practice. Thankfully, his role there is completely non-financial in nature.

Rather, White is part-counsellor, part-life-coach to some of the world’s wealthiest families who bank with Citigroup. “What I do is help clients think about the human implications of whatever it is they are trying to accomplish with respect to their wealth,” he says.

White works alone, travelling the world to give talks or listen to families whose issues can range from little more than non-financial questions about their wealth to those on the brink of litigation over family disputes regarding succession and inheritance. “I’ve always been interested in psychology because of the many neuroses of my own,” jokes White. “But I don’t do psychotherapy – I’m not qualified. And I don’t purport to have the right answers. My contribution is to give a little more perspective, and perhaps make people think about things in a different way.”