The Associazione Italiana Private Banking has gained more than 20 new members in the last six months, with membership now up to 64 private b...

The Associazione Italiana Private Banking has gained more than 20 new members in the last six months, with membership now up to 64 private banks, wealth managers and groups associated with the sector. A spokesman for the Association told WealthBriefing that membership is now over 90 per cent of the Italian wealth management market. “We have most of the major local private banks/wealth managers as well as many international names such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup,” he said. He added that the association has also gained members from a number of groups associated with the sector such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers and IBM. The Association has had a great deal of success at promoting the “culture” of private banking/wealth management throughout Italy, although there is still much to do, said the spokesman of the Milan-based group. “One of the difficulties in promoting services of private banks in Italy is that many wealthy Italians have built up retail banking relationships that they are reluctant to give up, despite the better suited services provided by private banks,” he said.