What is Private Banking?

Today, we hear more and more often about private banking and private services for bank clients. These terms are increasingly common and used by banks in their promotional communications to clients.

• But what exactly is meant by private banking?
• What are the needs and wants that can be met by private banking services?
• What are the requirements to qualify for private banking services?
• What are Banca Generali's distinctive features in offering private banking services?

In this article we will try to give an answer to these questions. If you are interested in further study the topic you can fill out the form at the end of this page and you will be contacted by one of our consultants.

To understand what we are actually talking about, you need to pick up an English language dictionary.

Private Banking: 'personalised (private) banking activity'.

(source Garzanti)

In its classic meaning, Private Banking is in fact a term of Anglo-Saxon origin that indicates the provision of services, mainly banking and financial, to customers with significant assets who, being characterized by financial needs or other needs not easily standardized, turns to a specialized bank to get a service tailored to the specific need detected.

Private banking contrasts with retail banking, which works with specific target customers, to whom services and products are offered that are mainly standardized and pre-packaged. The private banker (i.e. the person who materially provides the private banking service), on the other hand, builds a personalized relationship with the client, offering solutions modeled on his specific needs, based on the endowment of assets, and characterized by different degrees of sophistication related to the particular need manifested.

The most significant peculiarity of the private banking service is therefore represented by the service model adopted (i.e. how the service is provided), which envisages the provision of a dedicated professional to the client, a condition sine qua non for the construction and maintenance over time of a relationship based on trust. In the absence of a private banker dedicated to the client, one cannot therefore speak of private banking.

Private banking services are offered by Italian or foreign banking intermediaries, and in particular by network banks, commercial banks that dedicate a specific area of business to the function or large groups, which operate in most cases through dedicated companies.

As we have seen, the term private banking does not qualify so much the set of services that can be attributed to it, as much as the way in which they are provided (the dedicated private banker).

However, the services that typically help define private offerings are:

- The management of movable assets

- Investment advice

- Other investment services (order collection and transmission, dealing on own account, placement of financial instruments)

- Payment services

- Financing services 

- Insurance and pension consulting

- Assistance in the management of real estate assets

- Assisting in the management of collections of works of art and other valuable assets

- Services dedicated to the entrepreneur

- Asset protection and estate planning services

For the provision of services other than banking, investment and financial services, private banks generally avail themselves of the collaboration of extremely qualified third parties (professionals and companies specializing in the various fields): in this context, the private banker works alongside the client, typically carrying out roles of supervision and coordination of activities in the interest of the same.

Finally, the intermediaries active in the sector generally establish the thresholds for access to private banking services in terms of the size of financial assets: as the size of the assets increases, the degree of complexity of the client's needs typically increases and, consequently, the articulation of the services of interest. For intermediaries active on the domestic market, this threshold is generally equal to 500,000 euros.

This is our mission MissionIn a context of substantial homogeneity in the "value proposition" related to private banking services, we distinguish ourselves from other operators in the sector for the wealth advisory services offered to clients through relationships of trust established between the Advisor and the Client. This relationship plays a central role in our service model and is enhanced by the range of products, services and support we provide.

In particular, the distinctive elements of Banca Generali are:

• the high level of professionalism of Financial Advisors (as we have seen, a central and qualifying figure in the private banking model);
• the high quality level of the specialized services available to the Client, thanks to partnership agreements with the best operators - at domestic and international level - in the different fields, carefully selected;
• the virtuous use of technology, as a lever to allow the Financial Advisor to optimize the execution of low value-added activities, freeing up precious time to devote to meeting the Client and understanding his needs and objectives;
• the adoption of an ESG approach, which aims at long-term sustainable growth and permeates all phases of the company's processes for the creation of value for the Client.

• Banking Services: we provide our customers with a range of banking accounts and services that can be adapted to the needs of each individual, making daily operations simple and efficient, thanks to a range of innovative options that ensure maximum security in payments and mobile operations.
• Assets under administration: we take care of the administered component of portfolios, offering advice on the purchase and sale of securities on secondary and primary markets, as well as the possibility of subscribing to certificates. We are also able to offer our Financial Advisors and Clients one of the most performing and complete trading platforms on the market.
• Asset Management: we offer a wide range of mutual funds, in an open architecture environment that can rely on the ability to select the best management from thousands of products of international asset managers. In general, we have a complete and cutting-edge range of asset management solutions, which allows the Advisor and the Client to build tailor-made solutions, always keeping as a priority the objective of asset protection. Over the last few years, we have invested heavily in the evolution of our offering both in terms of markets covered and investment strategies, proposing innovative solutions, such as the adoption of the ESG approach and investment in the real economy, which have characterized recent trends in the sector.
• Insurance savings: in the field of insurance solutions, we support our Clients in the pursuit of the objectives of protection and transmission of assets thanks to an approach that integrates the best strategies for the containment of financial risks with the insurance expertise of the Generali Group, both domestically and internationally.
• Non-financial services: we offer a wide range of wealth advisory solutions, which allow us to assist our clients in managing their investments, but also to support them on the issues that are most important to them, related to their future and that of their families, to deepen them in an overall analysis capable of making each proposal clearer and more effective: the protection of assets and the family, the enhancement of real estate assets and passions, the development of the family business, the transmission of wealth to new generations.