Macquarie’s Waddell & Reed deal wouldn’t make sense for most of the world, but it does for Australia’s Shemara Wikramanayake.

It is the time of year when global banks publish their wealth reports. This year they make for compelling reading. Euromoney takes the best of these reports and examines the outlook for 2021.

China’s asset management industry barely existed 20 years ago. By 2030 it will be the world’s second largest. There are myriad ways for foreign firms to get it right – or horribly wrong. Here are Euromoney’s precepts for a better chance of winning – and avoiding failure.

Private banking is a business based on personal relationships and trust – and it’s hard to truly connect with someone on Zoom. So long as the pandemic persists, this presents a substantial challenge to wealth managers, who can only grow their businesses by bonding with wealthy clients and winning new mandates.

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.

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.