Private banks, eager to acquire clients for the long term and ensure a future pipeline of business, have been tapping into various markets including that of the potentially rich seam of wealth provided by family-run businesses, setting up awards events to highlight best practice.

A pioneer in this field is JP Morgan's Private Bank, which says it was the first such bank to create a family business awards event to celebrate the best of family businesses. On 4 June, the US banking giant will reveal the winners of its Family Business Honours, an event run in conjunction with the Institute for Family Business.

Another private bank in the UK, Coutts, also puts on an annual family business award event, highlighting the interest there now is in this area.

“The awards help us to develop excellent relationships with the UK's leading family businesses, allowing us not only to educate ourselves about a vital segment of the economy but also to foster a continuous exchange among those firms of ideas and best practices," Kate Murphy, head of family business & female initiatives, told WealthBriefing at her offices in London yesterday.

Family businesses are seen by private banks as an important source of present and future clients. Some of the wealthiest family firms will also operate a family office or be members of a multi-family office. In countries such as India, as well as in established industrial economies such as Germany, there is a strong family business culture.

The Family Business Honours was started in 2003 by JP Morgan.  

No stranger to family business enterprise herself, having helped to found RDT which provides a medical diagnostic device for people without access to medical care (for example on long haul flights), Ms Murphy said the awards evaluation team look at family firms' business success, social responsibility and family governance.

Before joining JP Morgan in 2007, Ms Murphy had 11 years running RDT with her brother, Graham Murphy, and had also worked in commodity and bond sales positions at various institutions, including Nomura, Lehman Brothers, Warburg and Bank of America.