The Japanese bank has spent big money to hire a wealth management team, but spiralling costs and a lack of name recognition in key markets leave many asking: how realistic are its ambitions?

Francesco de Ferrari gave up a plum private banking job at Credit Suisse to take over troubled AMP. It was always a tough ask. Personnel mis-steps did not help, but in the end there was not going to be much of a business left for him to run.

Buying a 10% stake in China Merchants Bank’s wealth management arm for $415 million gives JPMorgan greater access to China’s vast private wealth market. It is a deal that benefits both parties, and underscores JPMorgan’s quiet but concerted success story in Asia’s largest economy.

Outwardly different, Singapore and Dubai have transformed themselves into international wealth management hubs, overseen by clear-minded regulators. They are now starting to compete for business with Europe’s far older private wealth centres.

Liquidity events rather than asset migration drive market share gains.

Recent reports by UBS and consultancy Bain set out to explain who China’s high net-worth individuals are, what kind of private banking services they want and how local and global lenders can best serve them.

In creating a single wealth management platform, called Citi Global Wealth, the US bank is recognizing its shortcomings and planning for the future.

The pacts will normalise relations between Israel and the UAE, but it aims to do much more. The potential for regional détente and investment across real estate, energy and technology is great.

Wealth managers profited from the volatility of 2020. With the same beneficial gyrations unlikely in 2021, Victor Matarranz, global head of Santander Wealth Management and Insurance at Banco Santander, says the hard work starts now.

Few banks have navigated turbulent times so well, posting record revenues on the back of strong net inflows and rising markets.

JPMorgan Private Bank clients enjoy the best of both worlds: an intimate relationship with a US lender that is allied to the power of a genuinely global financial leader. It is led by Mary Callahan Erdoes.

In the US, JPMorgan has 55 dedicated private banking offices, from Austin to Seattle, and Cincinnati to Fort Lauderdale. Elsewhere, it focuses heavily on serving high and ultra-high net-worth customers in Europe, where it has eight offices, including the UK and Germany, Asia, through Hong Kong and Singapore, and Latin America, with clients served out of Miami, New York and Switzerland.

JPMorgan Private Bank wins this year’s top award, as well as being named the world’s best private bank for ultra-high-net-worth individuals 2023, and the world’s best private bank for investment research 2023.

The global wealth expert has expanded its vision, horizon and profits this year

The great financial innovator shone again in global wealth management.