Merck Finck & Co, the Munich-based private bank, is expected to gain clients from HypoVereinsbank, as the latter bank merges with Italian ba...

Merck Finck & Co, the Munich-based private bank, is expected to gain clients from HypoVereinsbank, as the latter bank merges with Italian bank, UniCredito. “We already feel a positive HVB effect with the development of our customer base,” Michael Krume, one of the senior partners of Merck Finck, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine. Merck Finck recently bought the private banking business of HVB-Tochter Westfalenbank, which was designed to increase the bank’s presence in the Northrhine-Westfalia area, Germany’s most populous state. Mr Krume went on to say in the interview that Merck Finck has been successful at restructuring the bank and has slimmed down its cost base substantially since encountering some problems a few years ago. Earlier, the Munich bank required a financial injection of €13.7 million from its owner Kredietbank Luxembourgoise. Mr Krume sees large potential in private banking growth. “The market for private banking in Germany will grow by over 10 per cent in the coming years – there is much money to be distributed.” The bank has been busy recruiting account executives, according to Mr Krume, with at least 30 new professional staff been recruited since the beginning of the year, bringing the total number of account executives to around 100. Beyond the acquisition of HVB-Tochter Westfalenbank, Merck Finck also bought the private banking business of WestLB in 2002, another Northrhine-Westfalia banking organisation. Mr Krume told Frankfurter Allgemeine that he foresaw further acquisitions. "For our owner KBL, Germany is one of the most interesting European markets for private banking.”