Private Banking: No Choice But to Innovate

4. Crisis Shifts Priorities

Our crisis-defined experiences will pave the way for new values as well. Especially the sought-after younger generation – tomorrow's clients – will value sustainability, humility, and modesty. For money managers, investments with a social value or impact can't be empty marketing promises anymore after the crisis: they represent a real need to reject excess and mindless waste. Private banks which fail to embed these values into their business models don't stand a chance with their clientele.

5. Investments – Another Way

When these values begin seeping through (see point 4), investment advisors will have to review their approach. Tomorrow's clients – those scarred by the century's biggest crash – will want to see more sense from their investments. Simply investing in return-heavy stocks or complex financial products they may not understand will no longer cut it: thematic investments will hold sway, especially those with persuasive, conscientious ideas for society. This means new, more multi-faceted investment specialists – without them, private banks won't have a leg to stand on. 

6. Predict Crises

The global developments of recent months illustrate how little we know: who would have predicted the coronavirus' severity? Or that wide swaths of the population will work from home for weeks and months? Or the 1987 stock-market crash? But many facts were already in the public domain: they simply needed to be recognized and combined. This requires experts or rather expert teams. In so far as private banks want to take on the new investment paradigm (see point 5), research departments in financial services will need to start thinking more holistically – and not from commission to commission.

7. Education Matters

The coronavirus pandemic will pass, but life and work will never be the same. Bankers won't be able to avoid continuing, interdisciplinary, and lifelong education. Private banks willing to facilitate this learning process are in good shape to attract top talent.

8. Next Generation CEOs

The post-crisis era calls for a new type of leader: the next generation CEO. These aren't stars like Pictet banker Boris Collardi or UBS' Iqbal Khan: reincarnations of a foregone era which leaned heavily on metrics like lending to boost revenue. The crisis will bring to the surface a host of new, battle-tested names who understand the new priorities and can embody the new era – digital, innovative, sustainable, and credible. The rest is gravy.