Private Wealth Management 

Subsector Overview

Private Wealth Management, or Private Banking, is an investment advisory service for

High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI). Usually, the client works with 4 or 5 Wealth
Managers from different banks or entities in order to avoid high risks.

The advisor or advisory team understands the needs and objectives of the affluent
client in order to deliver a full range of financial services and products in a holistic way.
The Wealth Management includes asset management services, investments
management, real estate planning, tax planning, succession planning, lending, cash
management, etc., and takes steps to ensure the wealth will be protected over the
long run.

The Wealth Manager starts by developing a plan that will maintain and increase a
client's wealth based on that individual's financial situation, goals and comfort level
with risk. After the original plan is developed, there are 2 ways to interact with the
client:

o Advice Account/ Asset Manager: he/ she meets regularly with the client to
update goals, review and rebalance the financial portfolio, and investigate
whether additional services are needed, with the ultimate goal being to
remain in the client’s service throughout their lifetime. The Asset Management
is focused on growing an investor’s money, but the client is the one who takes
the decisions.
o Manage Account/ Wealth Manager (Fiduciary): there is an agreement between
the 2 parties where it is established a framework and objectives. He/ she looks
at the client’s overall financial situation and takes steps to ensure their wealth
will be protected and increased over the long run. Based on this, the Wealth
Manager has the power to act on behalf of the client.

From a bank perspective, the clients are segmented depending of their investible
assets, as follows:

o Affluent or sub-HNWI: an investor with less than US$ 1 million but more than
US$ 100.000
 o High-Net-Worth individual (HNWI): Usually, individuals that exceed with a value
of US$ 1 million.
o Ultra HNWI (UHNWI): are those with over US$ 30 million in investable assets.

On the other hand, the Private Banking or (Private) Wealth Management area has
mainly 3 divisions / roles:

o Front Office:
‐ Relationship Manager/ Client Executive: the main point of the client’s
contact. And he/ she must know very well the bank’s services and
products, client’s finance and understands the financial market.
o Middle Office:
‐ Product Specialist: he/ she supports the Relationship Manager by
developing the investment products and/ or uncover the investment
opportunities. This person specialized in an area (e.g. arts, technology,
etc.) and, might liaise with clients and other areas of the bank.
o Back Office:
‐ Investment Manager: he/ she manages the client’s assets and oversees
a large number of client portfolios (which normally include a complex
combination of investments). Also, the Investment Manager works
closely with the Product Specialist
Generally, graduating students will be placed in the relationship management roles,
but there are also opportunities in the other divisions in top banks.

Key characteristics

When evaluating this position, it is important to understand that the Private Wealth
Management area is a booming sector. The reason is that there are more wealthy
people (e.g.: there are a transfer of fortunes to new generations) and new successful
entrepreneurs.

Wealth is not a zero-sum game that leads a few to have a lot because a lot of people
have very little. The total volume of wealth can increase and, for this, it is necessary
to have a welcoming, and not repressive, institutional environments towards wealth
creation. The banks are adapting and updating in 2 main areas. On one hand, they
are incorporating younger professional personnel. On the other hand, by offering
new technology tools to their clients so they can have all the information in real
time. The banks and firms are taking actions in order to fulfil the client’s needs as the
client profile is now also a younger person.

Most of the emerging countries and European accounts are managed from
Switzerland, at companies such as UBS and Credit Suisse. Therefore, these firms
are giving the opportunities to international students with languages and local business
knowledge to work for them on these markets from the European Headquarters.

In addition to internships, these Swiss banks also offer interesting graduate

programmes for recent graduates, rotating in different areas of the bank prior to taking
a final role, while American banks and local offices tend to place graduates in a specific
role.

As the Wealth Managers are increasing their portfolio, they need to centre their
attention on their main or larger clients, so they are assigning their smaller accounts
to the new talent, giving them the opportunity to analyse, develop and improve the
smaller accounts. As your career progress, you will need to bring new assets to the
bank by developing your network.

Profile for the position

Usually, a Wealth Manager has a degree in business, either a Bachelor, MSc or even
MBA graduates. For this position, the education background is as important as the
personal talents and skills (written and verbal) he/ she has.
The Wealth Manager needs to have a very well-developed interpersonal skills as he/
she has to service the clients. Also, the bankers are looking for candidates with service
orientation, be self-motivated, target orientated with an entrepreneurial mind-set, the
ability to develop, leverage and partner with internal and external networks,
emotionally intelligent and be able to influence people, digital affinity, a high level of
ethical behaviour and competence, a good facilitator and even better collaborator.
Another key point is the Wealth Manager’s personal network: the prospect clients
that he/ she already has (and brings onboard to the bank) and the ones that can be
developed to increase the number of AUM (asset under management).
Interview for Wealth Management
The Banks Recruiters are looking in particular for candidates who have relevant soft
skills for each role, technical knowledge and to see if you are the right fit for their
bank’s culture.

General motivational, competency, strength questions

Most of them are already questioned/ demonstrated in your application, so please

review our materials on how to express questions such as: why the bank, why this
particular division, why should we hire you, etc.

You will need to demonstrate you share the company values and possess the required
soft skills mentioned above. Therefore, you need to prepare good examples of
questions such as: give me an example of a time you developed new business
relationships, how do you organize your day, where you had an ethical dilemma, etc.

Make sure to review our Banking Applications presentation for guidelines. Also
prepare additional question about your strengths/ weaknesses, etc.

These are typical questions that you need to nail during the selection process,
especially in the first stages with Human Resources or at the video interview. And for
these, to research is key!
Technical Interviews

Being a Relationship Manager means that you will have the support from the whole
organization to provide the best service to your client. Therefore, general interest for
financial services and markets its required to understand and address all client’s
needs, including providing/ selling other bank’s services such as investment banking.
To this end, you might be enquired about different areas.

Typical questions may include:

o What is going on in the markets?

o How you keep up to date with market’s news?
o Do you invest? If so, tell me about your portfolio strategy.
o Pitch me a stock you like.
o How would you invest 10 million of an old couple?
o What is going on in your country? (politics, macro, micro, etc.)
o How would you value a company? Walk me through a DCF valuation.
o What is the outlook of this sector?

Tips to pass the interviews in Wealth Management subsector

7 Interview Questions You Need to Nail to Work in Wealth Management
http://www.vault.com/blog/interviewing/7-interview-questions-you-need-to-nail-to-work-in-wealth-
management
Common Wealth Management interview questions and how to answer them
https://news.efinancialcareers.com/us-en/171835/common-wealth-management-interview-questions-
answer
Wealth Management internship interview questions and pointers
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/wealth-management-internship-interview-questions-and-
pointers
The top 3 methods of breaking into Private Banking – even if you’re not the son of the Sultan
of Brunei
https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/private-banking-careers/
Private placement agent jobs: industry overview and recruiting
https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/private‐placement‐agent‐jobs/ 
Further external information
Wealth management careers explained
https://news.efinancialcareers.com/ca-en/careers-in-finance/219951/wealth-managementWealth
Investment banking vs. wealth management
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionals/092515/career-advice-investment-banking-
vswealth-management.asp
What is private wealth management
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/jobs/private-wealth-management/