The closing debate in Euromoney’s global private banking and wealth management virtual event focused on the issues all relationship managers face today, from hiring talent and meeting new clients online, to transparency and compliance, to the need to make portfolios more diverse and sustainable.

Private banking and wealth management might sometimes look like the last hold-out against fintech disruption. But experts say talk of competition between technology and the human touch is misplaced: the opportunities for partnership are vast.

Demand for investments with a positive social or environmental impact is increasing. For portfolio managers this means navigating a complex world of terminologies, data and reporting

The BRICS economies, which between them represent 40% of the world population and 32% of its GDP, are a powerful force for the private banking industry as their economic engines drive wealth creation. But they are all distinct markets with their own unique opportunities and challenges.

Generation Zers, born after 1997, are a fascinating bundle of contradictions. Wealthy but suspicious of money; digitally wired but lonely; empathetic yet easily distracted. But they’re trailblazers too and they will force companies, banks and investment firms to create products and funds that heal the world they inherit.

Wealthy investors kept their cool by and large in the early days of the pandemic, refusing to panic but keeping an eye out for good deals. After a year of judiciously diversifying portfolios, high net-worth families are looking to the future, as they seek out the best investments in a post-Covid world.

Private banks are having a good pandemic, streaming Covid-themed webinars to high net-worth clients. Now they’re competing with each other to hire the biggest names in US politics to explain to wealthy investors what Trump or Biden will do.

Edelweiss has grown over 25 years into an independent and successful diversified financial services group, but it needs capital. Its decision to sell a controlling stake in its wealth management business spotlights the institution and the potential of the sector.

For the wealthy among us, it has mostly been a good pandemic.

The Swiss bank stands apart from its peers. It helped its clients profit, both in the serene waters of 2019 and in the wake left by Covid-19 as it spread across the world in 2020

“I think this crisis has shown why being with a firm focused on wealth management as a primary business and having a global perspective matters to clients,” says Tom Naratil, co-chief executive of UBS global wealth management (GWM) and president of UBS Americas.

Our review period was a difficult one for private banking operations in the region, as it was worldwide: the fourth quarter wiped out huge chunks of revenues and assets for some international and local players, and it was a year that required sound individual advice for clients.

For the second year running Credit Suisse is Latin America’s best bank for wealth management, this year bolstered by the completion of a three-year turnaround across the whole bank.

Household net financial wealth in CEE has roughly doubled since 2006 and private banking and wealth management services are increasingly in demand across the region.

With a new strategy of regionalization, integration and innovation, Credit Suisse’s wealth management business has set itself apart from its peers and brought the ethos of Swiss personalized service to an international platform.