Private banker - what are they good for?

[GoAnna!]

Does anyone here have a Private Banker and is prepared to share their experiences? Forum preferably but if you are too shy a PM would be great.

I have been approached by one and was wondering what are the benefits? What are the traps?

I am not interested in hearing about relationship mangers when you borrow over $250K or whatever I mean true private baking available only to high net worth individuals.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Alanna]

Can you give some more details? Are they are private individual or company who offer fully tailored packages, sourcing finance, legal services etc? I am assuming that by relationship managers, you mean someone attached to a specific bank/financial institution?

 

[GoAnna!]

Hi Alannah

Its a service within a bank. It's just that its not usually publically advertised so I guess its harder to seewhat they offer in comparison etc.

 

[The Y-man]

Hi Alannah

Its a service within a bank. It's just that its not usually publically advertised so I guess its harder to seewhat they offer in comparison etc.

Westpac
http://www.westpac.com.au/internet/...VPB+Exclusive+investment+and+banking+services

St George
http://www.stgeorge.privatebank.com.au/home/default.asp

My take on it: The general thrust is "personalised investment advice" - i.e. sell you investment products. Having said that, they may offer more flexibility in terms of getting over serviceability and other issues for "non-standard" setups.

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[Dazz]

Hi GoAnna,

I reckon it comes down to the individual. We've had a Private Banker for the past 4 years and he was superb. We both grew our business objectives, with mutual benefits for both parties.

Respect, efficiency, quick turn around on decisions, scouting things that pushed the edge of the Banking envelope and broke through in many cases...much to our delight. All of the rules sort of went fuzzy and they looked at you as a separate deal, rather than simply some irrelevant worm in a very long boring line.

He unfortunately left (promoted over East ) and was replaced by a numpty "Hi I'm your new professional Private Banker". A complete tosspot, where "No, cannot and sorry, it's Bank Policy" dictated his vocab.

Completely ruined the business relationship built up and lost buku for the Bank as we severed business deals. We are actively disengaging ourselves now and his bosses, who we know from them taking us out to dinner, are asking us what's wrong ?? Bit late fellas I said, thanks but no thanks.

Bottom Line - the title Private Banker means squat - it all comes down to the drive and passion of the individual.

 

[GoAnna!]

HAHAhahahaha St George with their "competitive" 9.25% on their credit card. How nice of them

 

[Simon]

My PB is prob just a relationship manager but the real value is that one call or email gets my admin done for me asap. I haven't called a call centre for years now.

Ciao

 

[sue78]

yeap, just a fancy word for a relationship manager. I was offered the services of a Private Banker from Westpac but after a meeting I felt a bit let down.

I would have thought you would have done a bit of research and understood our portfolio, our history and have some questions for us but I wasn't up to explaining everything to her. This is essential of Relationship Manager, understanding the portfolio, customer's needs and future plans.

Sure I can call her to get things done but I found she still wasn't that accessible...calls always went to her msg bank and she took her time to return my calls. That rarely happens in commercial/corporate/institutional banking during business hours where RM's are usually the first point of contact for the clients.

That's my experience but it could be a good thing depending on the person you are assigned to.

 

[cava]

We met a private banker once when we were looking at buying a property down the street. He had 6 clients only and eventually merged with one of the big 4.

However, part of the merger deal was that he still had total autonomy over his clients who were very much the big end of town. That to me is a true private banker!

 

[Alanna]

Ok from what everybody is describing we have one of those also, as we got sick of going over the whole deal from scratch with every new bank manager that got transferred in. She has certainly made things happen a bit quicker when we need them and given that she deals with some large clients with diverse needs she often has some interesting extra details to consider that perhaps we hadnt factored in.
She is a bit too company line for my liking though and I cant say we have hit it off - I had to smooth the waters after she and my hubby got off to bad start straight away.
I agree with Dazzling, it all depends on the individual that you are attached to as to how it will go.

 

[MichaelW]

Yep,

I've got a private banker at WBC. She's pretty good and does stretch the envelope for me on my new loans. She's sent stuff to the regional managers and retention a few times to get them across the line at higher LVRs and greater discounts to the standard variable than bank policy. But I do have to do all the pushing. She doesn't come to me and say: "You know what, ANZ are doing 85% lends to 80 basis points off, lets refinance yours and squeeze our margins a bit more. I'll send them off to retention again and plead the case". If she did that, then she'd be invaluable!!

But I did go back to her recently for my $1M development loan only to be told they'll lend 70% max as its on a $2.5M gross realisation single property. I pointed out it would be strata'd so each was only $830K so the 80% lend should hold and she said we'd have to see. I also shopped the rate through a broker and came up with an extra 10 basis points off all my current loans plus the potential for another 5 points if we push hard at application. So, all in all, a good broker wins hands down.

Cheers,
Michael.

PS As a bit of an aside, I did PM a really great broker here on SS about my new loan requirements only to be told it would be easier to just stick with my WBC pro pack. I started down that route but then thought I'd try a new broker that was running ads in the paper. Turned out they could improve my rate and terms. So, it was worth shopping the new loan. Was just a bit surprised in retrospect from the lack of interest initially... Ah well, all good for me in the end.

 

[kaf]

I've got a private banker - she's my mortgage broker . She has access to most banks and knows a hell of a lot about finance and investing and has more IPs than we have. Call me simple but that's the only direct contact to the financial sector I really need at the moment.

kaf

 

[grossreal]

hi all
seems like there is a bit of confusion about a a private banker and a commercial broker.
a private banker works for a bank and only lends that banks products and can change banking criteria for the deal that they are doing
but can't and wouldn't recommend other products out side there bank.
a commercial broker only does commercial broking and can allign themself with alot of different lenders.and as per another post this area is very open for me at this stage and people are in it that shouldn't be.
from alot of these post
you are explaining a broker not a banker.
a private banker not only does loans but also does investing within the bank from the clients that they have on there book
and you can have more then one as you look across different lenders.
but if you are not doing alot of cross investing you will lose them very quickly
a commercial banker/merchant banker is half way between a broker and a private banker
in that a commercial banker/merchant banker which ever you want to call them does the negotiating and banking for alot of clients
but is employed by the clients so its in there best interest to make sure that the bottom line of the client is correct and this is a very competative area in commercial business.
as I have told more then one bank manager just because you have bank manager on your card does not mean you are a manager.
the same can be said of cards that say private banker.
westpac and suncorp love to have fancy names on cards but they mean nothing.
oh and as you go up that ladder with in most of the lender I have seen here in sydney the people up the ladder don't return calls that fast either so don't hold your breath.
it seens to me the further down the ladder the quicker the call back.
but thats banks.
it changes when they want to lend out money,
and a couple do at this stage.

 

[APerry]

a commercial banker/merchant banker is half way between a broker and a private banker

A commercial banker and merchant banker are absolutely nothing alike, you're getting very confused with your definitions.

On the topic of personal bankers, there is a big difference between different banks ands also between differtent levels of personal bankers at the same bank. If you are looking at getting into development or commercial property on a large (even largish) scale, personal bankers often do not the expertise or access to the same credit criteria/products as commercial bankers. Most commercial customers are relationship managed and a good relationship with a good commercial banker is very advantageous.

Regards
Alistair

 

[alexlee]

I always thought private bankers are the people who get you reservations at popular restaurants, find you works of art to buy and stuff like that......

 

[GoAnna!]

The private banker I want to hear about would not be available to you unless you had 1 mil to 10 mil nett assets and on at least $250K income per annum. I don't mean "relationship bankers" or whatever you want to call them that might be available to people borrowing say $250K. I have plenty of experience with them and yes they are only as good as the individual. Some people pay up to $50K per annum for the pleasure of a private banker. I would hope they would be getting some thing extra special for that money.

You wouldl know if you have a private banker.

 

[handyandy]

I have had private bankers in the past and I think I still have one currently. Although, I haven't spoken to him in at least 2 years so maybe I only have a relation manager because I don't push that much business to them.

My book keeper has spoken to his aid on a number of occasions to sort out problems with account etc and the service is fantastic, generally sorted immediately. We also have a private 1800 number that allows us to leave a message specifically for them if the 1800 jockey can't help, which is always.

In fact the last 'problem' that was sorted of significance was to obtain a letter releasing a property form the 'equitable loan' commitment. I would imagine that this would be an impossibility without some sort of private banker acting for you. This was done within 2 days of requesting it.

Actually previously I had them release a security out of a fixed loan based on increased valuation. Just about had forgotten about this as it was so painless.

In both these case we intended to use these securities to obtain funds from alternate banks.

They are also able to source larger loans, with the last loan arranged for close on $3mil and even getting a private presentation on the money market in's and outs.

As per Daz they do come and go and it really comes down to the person as to how much effort they apply.

Cheers

 

[sunshine]

The private banker I want to hear about would not be available to you unless you had 1 mil to 10 mil nett assets and on at least $250K income per annum.

I know about these ones. Agree with Dazzling and MichaelWhyte - better off with a good MB.

Some people pay up to $50K per annum for the pleasure of a private banker. I would hope they would be getting some thing extra special for that money

I'd like to hear more about these ones. Are these bankers still attached to a bank? Or are they just extra special Mortgage Brokers??

Sunshine

 

[Sunfish]

A "private banker" bought me a cup of coffee and a bun once. The wash-up was that I didn't have the income needed to for him to buy the Lady and I a beer and a hamburger.

Actually, I think I taught him a little about investing (he didn't know how CFDs worked. ) and he admitted they had nothing to offer me. So I remain one of the Great Unwashed. LOL

 

[cava]

The private banker I want to hear about would not be available to you unless you had 1 mil to 10 mil nett assets and on at least $250K income per annum.

The private banker that I was referring to would, it was implied, only represent clients that had circa $50 mil upwards.

One of his clients, he advised, owned Mt Buller ski resort, which at that point was worth circa $70 mil.