Client Affairs
HNW Clients Fall Out Of Love With Big Banks - Report

High-net worth individuals are shifting assets from brokerages and large global banks to smaller, more conservative alternatives, according to industry figures.
"For the first time in my career, I saw concern about the location of one's assets,'' said Robert Balentine, head of Wilmington Trust’s investment management group. "We've seen tangible evidence of very wealthy clients shifting assets out of brokerage firms in great numbers,'' he was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.
Trust companies like Wilmington are benefiting from record sub-prime-infected losses at large wealth management firms such as UBS, say analysts.
Northern Trust, a Chicago-based bank with more than $4 trillion in custody, has had an influx of assets from bigger competitors, Sherry Barrat, the company's president of personal financial services, told Bloomberg.
Income at Ms Barrat's division rose 6.4 per cent in the first quarter to $228.4 million. The rise in fees resulted primarily from new business, according to a recent company statement.
Incoming clients say they're worried about safety and soundness, Ms Barrat said. They want to make sure their assets survive even if the firm goes down.
US Trust, now part of Bank of Amercia and the country's largest private bank measured by assets, has gained clients in the subprime-mortgage crisis and subsequent credit crunch, said Tim Maloney, a division executive at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company.