It’s been two years since Swiss multinational private bank Julius Baer moved into its new office in Cheshire, as part of a strategy to expand into the regions.
For Julius Baer, which operates in 27 countries around the world and manages more than £300bn worth of client assets, having a presence in the north west is “critical”, says managing director of the regional office James Bailey.
“Two-thirds of the wealth in this country is outside of London and the south east, so why would you want to be doing that from a business perspective and from a shareholder perspective?”
Forging a sense of community is important when working closely with clients, he says.
“Understanding what it is to live and breathe the air of the north west location of my contacts is really important and helps us work alongside those individuals to make something meaningful.”
Bailey says there has been questions as to why Julius Baer would choose to open regional branches in the midst of uncertainty caused by the Brexit referendum result.
But he says there is “no better opportunity than to take advantage of uncertainty when the very nature of our role is to create as much certainty as we possibly can in a world of uncertainty”.
“What is a risk for one person is an opportunity for someone else and there will always be someone with an entrepreneurial mindset to step in and capitalise upon it and make the next thing we can benefit from as wealth managers.”
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Calum Brewster, head of regions Julius Baer 海角视频, says the north west project has had “fantastic success”.
“Our plan has always been to go where there is demand and if anything we’re struggling to keep up with the demand.
“In our first year Julius Baer opened twice as many new accounts than it had in the previous two years combined, so that gives an indication of how well it’s gone.”
While the bank benefits from a strong regional presence, Julius Baer’s global stronghold is also imperative, says Bailey.
“Our clients in the north west tend to have something to do with the north west by definition but the nature of wealthy people is that they tend to move further afield.”
Headquartered in Zurich, the bank has offices in Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Milan, Monaco, Montevideo, Moscow, Mumbai, Singapore and Tokyo.
“Having presence around the world is pretty important if you want to invest in the very best things.
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“You can’t invest in Amazon without investing in the United States, for instance, so having that global view and footprint with first hand knowledge of what’s going on around the world is pretty key.”
“We are one big global economy, we have iPhones and we Google. These are American companies but they’re omnipresent. They happen to be listed in America but they’re no more American than I am.”
And at Julius Baer what clients invest into is dependent on the future, says Brewster.
“We have something we call ‘next generation’ which is where we look at future mega-trends when we’re talking about the client’s future and planning for their future.”
One ‘mega-trend’ identified by the bank is Asian tourism, due to a burgeoning middle class population mainland China, says Bailey, which will have particular impact on Manchester.
“There aren’t too many days you can walk past Manchester Town Hall and not see groups of Chinese tourists with their cameras taking pictures of it.”
In the last 20 years, business in the region has changed “beyond recognition”, says Bailey, which he attributes to “strong and consistent political leadership”.
“Manchester obviously has an illustrious track record in industry from the industrial revolution and beyond but what we’re seeing is now is a new industrial revolution with a very firm focus on technology.”
“I think it’s partly down to being sufficiently distant from London to have our own mentality as well as having a phenomenally strong university presence and the international nature of the airport.”
Going forward, the bank will continue to “respond to the demand” in the north west and continue to build its presence in the region.
“We’ve experienced very strong growth from the outset, we continue to see that growth, and there’s no stopping us as far as I can see we will grow our own talent, both existing and new,” says Bailey.
Julius Baer has no immediate plans to grow its team in the north west, comprised of six people, because “that’s not in the nature of what we do’’, Bailey says.
“We have very strong and close relationships with top-end clients, so there is no end-game as such.”
He adds: “We don’t need big numbers, because obviously a lot of our resource sits elsewhere around the world, not just in this country but beyond as well.”