Banque Havilland, the Luxembourg-headquartered, family-owned private bank, has opened a London branch – a move which it says is key to its development as an international banking group.

Banque Havilland, which launched in 2009, opened a subsidiary in Monaco in early 2012. Commenting on the new London branch, Nicholas Parker, Banque Havilland’s chief executive of private banking since June last year, called the new office “an obvious next step for the bank” due to the capital’s status as a global financial centre and its high concentration of very wealthy individuals and families. Banque Havilland focuses on serving ultra high net worth families.

Banque Havilland is owned by the Rowland family, the patriarch of which is property tycoon David Rowland. The bank’s genesis owes much to the fact that following the financial crisis Rowland became concerned about the family assets held at the loss- and scandal-hit big banks.

Initially, the family looked into applying for a bank licence in Switzerland (a notoriously onerous and expensive process) but eventually took the option of acquiring the banking licence, infrastructure and assets of the former Kaupthing Bank Luxembourg in order to leverage on the ready-made operating infrastructure and experienced teams already in place.

Banque Havilland offers selected clients with a corresponding risk appetite the opportunity to co-invest with the Rowland family, and the bank sees this as one of its key differentiators. The family connection is also evident in the running of the bank as seven of Rowland’s eight children are involved in its management. He himself only serves as the bank’s honorary president, however.

To read an interview with this publication in which Venetia Lean, Bank Havilland’s chief operating officer, outlines her bank’s approach to wooing the UHNW segment, click here.