Rothschild Private Banking targets £10bn in UK
A recruitment drive at the UK arm of Rothschild Private Banking could help assets grow fivefold to £10bn in the next few years, according to Gary Powell, head of the business.
The private bank last week announced it had hired three senior client advisers from GAM, the hedge fund arm of Swiss bank Julius Baer, after recruiting two private bankers from
UBS AG. The appointments take the number of UK client directors at Rothschild to 12, double the number a year ago.
The UK private bank manages £2bn in assets from clients with at least £5m to invest. Gary Powell said: "We can easily manage £10bn in the UK without changing the culture of the business. We are still a small business and there is a big opportunity for us because this business remains fragmented."
As well as Rothschild Private Banking & Trust, which manages £10bn from London and Zurich as part of NM Rothschild, the French branch of the family, headed by Benjamin de Rothschild, owns Geneva-based Banque Privee Edmond de Rothschild.
Edmond de Rothschild was one of the fastest-growing private banks in Europe last year. The bank hired senior bankers from UBS in Geneva and Italy. Powell said further appointments are likely in the UK and that he knew of "a dozen, high-quality bankers out there I could hire tomorrow".
James Fairbairn, Richard Jennings and Nicholas Barran were recruited from GAM, where they were responsible for business development as well as managing client relationships. Philip Stevens and Amanda Lyons joined
Rothschild this year from
UBS, while Philip Marcovici, a partner at law firm Baker & McKenzie in Zurich and regarded as one of the top private client lawyers in Europe, joined the board of the UK private bank last month.
Date: 22.07.2008 [ID: 177]