4 Steps How To Become A Private Banker

(doylc.com) How to Become a Private Banker - Private bankers (also called relationship managers, personal bankers and personal financial advisors) provide specialized services and attention to choice, tend to be very affluent clients. High Net Worth (HNW) customers, also known as High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) or Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs), have unique financial needs and requirements. Services that private bankers provide to HNWIs include wealth, administration, estate planning, tax advice, and investment portfolio management. Getting into the field can be difficult and requires a lot of networking in addition to education and experience.

• Learn the basics a private banker

Get an education degree. To become a private banker, you must have at least a bachelor's degree. It helps (but isn't necessary) that the degree has a focus in a finance area because getting a degree shows others that you're more professional. Good choices include finance, business administration, or economics. Otherwise, the degree can be in any area in which you excel.

Many private bankers complement their initial training with a master's degree or even a PhD in finance, business administration or economics. This way you will not only be prepared for your job, but you will also get used to what you are doing.

A bachelor's degree is not a legal requirement, but may be the bank's requirement for bankers in general.

Looking for internships. Even during your studies, it can be difficult to get an internship in private banking. However, any type of experience in banking, investment or related fields can be beneficial. As you gain some experience, you can prove your skills to private banking companies that you may hire in the future. Additionally, you may have the opportunity to network with HNWIs during an internship.

Talk to professors, a university career center, and anyone you know who works in finance about the opportunity to do an internship. Many private banks and other financial firms already have internship programs in place, so you should check with them directly as well.

Be certified. A number of certifications are available to private bankers. These can sharpen your professional profile and the chances of your dream job.

The Wealth Management Institute (WMI) offers the 10-week Wealth Management Private Banking Program and associated certificate. This course consists of multiple sessions covering topics such as understanding the needs of business owners, private equity and hedge funds, estate planning and asset allocation.

Globecon Institute offers a nine-month course and certificate in "Private Banking and Wealth Management" and a three- to four-month course and certificate in "Operations in Investment Banking and Securities Markets" at.

Get licensed. To practice as a private banker in many areas, you need to be licensed by a regulatory body. In the United States, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) administer licenses that private bankers must hold in order to earn commissions on the sale of financial products.

The Series 6 license allows private bankers to advise clients on 'packaged' products such as mutual funds, annuities and trusts. The license is awarded by passing a 135-minute investment, regulation and ethics exam. To apply for the license you must be sponsored by a company that is a member of FINRA.

The Series 7 license allows private bankers to advise clients on individual securities such as stocks and bonds. The license is granted by passing a 6-hour securities trading exam. To apply for the license you must be sponsored by a company that is a member of FINRA.

NASAA administers the Series 63 license, which every state requires private bankers to advise clients on investments. The license is awarded by passing a 75-minute exam. You must have the Series 63 license before you can apply for a Series 6 or Series 7 license.

NASAA also administers the Series 65 license, which allows private bankers to advise clients for an hourly fee instead of a commission. This license is awarded by passing a 180-minute exam.

• How to find a job

Network extensively. To work as a private banker, you need to get to know HNWIs and UHNWIs and get them to trust you to take care of their financial needs. Get to know some of these people and their needs very well. If you don't already know potential customers, you need to find some through networking. Much of the networking for private bankers can take place in social or informal settings.

Start collaborating with all the HNWIs you know. Have lunch with them, try to get invited to events they might attend with other HNWIs, etc.

If you do meet HNWIs, make sure you get their contact information (including social media profiles) and share yours with them.

Once you've made initial connections with HNWIs, ask them about meetings or informal events like a round of golf. Use these to get to know each other better.

Be present at any events that HNWIs are likely to attend, such as: B. Fundraisers. These are opportunities to meet potential customers, but also to learn what is important to them.

Be determined about how you can help HNWIs with private banking services, but don't be pushy. Show genuine interest in their work and interests.

Decide if you want to work on your own or join an existing private banking firm. If you can develop a list of potential or current clients, this will vastly increase your chances of getting a job as a private banker. You can work with these clients on your own, essentially setting up your own business. However, you may be more likely to attract and retain clients if you have the name recognition and security of an existing private banking firm, and so you may want to seek a job at one of these.

If you do have a list of potential or current clients, ask them about whether or not they would be willing to have you continue advising them if you moved to an existing private banking firm. If so, mention this to firms that interview you or that you approach about a job.

Use social media like LinkedIn to search for jobs. In today's world, employers often seek job candidates through social media and other networking platforms. By creating a professional profile and connecting with others in private banking and other finance fields, you have a better chance of being contacted about open positions.

Keep things professional. If you have social media accounts with public or semi-public profiles, make sure they don't contain content you don't want customers to see.

A general rule of thumb is that if you wouldn't share it with your grandmother, it shouldn't appear on your social media profile.

Focus on building meaningful, meaningful relationships rather than increasing the sheer number of your followers, friends, or connections on social media. If you intend to use your social media accounts for professional purposes, these relationships should be professional.

If you have social media accounts and intend to use them for work, then it is important to review and update them regularly. If an account hasn't been updated in a while, it looks odd, and if you don't check it regularly, you may miss important communications or potential connections.

Send out lots of resumes. Most people looking for a private banking job send many resumes before they find one. Make sure your skills and experience in private banking and/or other finance fields are highlighted to increase your chances of an interview and your dream job.

You can send resumes to apply for any advertised position in or related to private banking. However, you can also communicate with institutions that are not currently hiring. Let them know that you work in this area or want to enter this area. Give them a copy of your resume and ask them to keep it in case they hire in the future. Showing initiative like this can be an asset and make you a memorable candidate.

• Entry into private banking in non-traditional ways

Start off in personal banking. Private banking can be difficult to enter because there are relatively few positions in the field, and because private bankers must develop a network of HNWIs. One alternative is to get a start in personal banking, providing services (investing, retirement planning, etc.) to regular individuals. While you wait for a job in private banking to materialize, you will gain useful banking experience.

Personal banking is not a direct or obvious path to enter private banking. While serving in personal banking, you will still need to focus on networking with HNWIs who can potentially become your clients.

Additionally, you must aggressively seek opportunities to transition from personal banking to private banking. Continue to send out resumes and conduct informational interviews, tell your current institution's supervisors that you want to move into private banking, and continue to offer to work with any HNWIs you know of.

Step up to Privilege Banking. As you gain enough personal banking experience, you may be able to advance within your organization to a position where you provide privileged banking services. These are offered to select clients with larger portfolios or net worth (but not as high as HNWIs). Many of the same products and services offered to HNWIs are also offered to privileged banking clients, with the exception of hedge funds and private equity.

Privilege Banking can provide more opportunities to meet and network with HNWIs, so actively seek out these individuals while working in this space.

Also, continue to send out resumes and look elsewhere for private banking jobs. Emphasize how the skills you developed in privilege banking will make you an effective private banker.

Start as an assistant to a private banker. You may also be able to work towards a position as a private banker by first working as a private banker's assistant. These help with scheduling, documents and other private banking needs. There may also be occasional opportunities to meet with HNW clients, although assistants do not typically advise them on financial matters.

If you are good at your job, your firm may offer you some clients, or you may be able to fill the position if one of the firm's private bankers retires or is leaving.

Enter private banking from another area of ​​finance. Some individuals enter private banking by first working in another field such as investment banking. While this can give you knowledge and experience in the world of finance, it doesn't offer the same opportunities to build relationships with HNWIs. So if you want to get into private banking from another financial area, you have to network intensively with potential customers in addition to your regular professional activity.

• Successful as a private banker

Research the banking world constantly. HNWIs typically hire private bankers to manage very large amounts of money, so you always need to be knowledgeable about the world of finance. This means you are constantly reading financial news and reports, keeping up to date with the fine details of investing, keeping up to date with financial laws and regulations, etc. If you don't keep up with this knowledge, you risk, your clients to give bad advice and lose her ; You cannot work as a private banker without your customers.

Practice superior customer service. HNWIs expect a lot of personal attention from private bankers as they may be entrusted with large portfolios and investments. In order to keep your customers happy (and acquire new ones), you must be willing to work very closely with them.

Make sure that your clients can reach you at any time, and in many ways (phone, text, email, etc.).

Be prepared to work long or odd hours in order to work around your clients' schedules.

Private bankers will benefit from knowing about their clients' personal lives, family, businesses, etc. This knowledge can help you provide services and products that are tailored to a client's specific situation.

Be able to engage with clients about the world in general—current events, hobbies, politics, etc. HNW clients often want to see that their private bankers are well rounded, knowledgeable, and trustworthy, since that implies that they will provide excellent service.

Don't be surprised if your customers ask you for things that don't seem directly related to financial matters. This may mean asking you to discuss a deal over a round of golf; It could also mean that they ask you to pick up their pet from dog daycare so they have time to meet up. Remember that your customers are your top priority and be flexible in meeting their needs.

Learn how to manage portfolios well. Private bankers must offer their clients excellent discretionary portfolio management. This service is "discretionary" in the sense that it is up to the portfolio manager (the private banker) to determine how best to care for and grow a client's wealth. This contains:

Understanding the full range of investment products: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs), etc.

Has in-depth knowledge of national and global markets, business trends and investment strategies.

Make superior buying and selling decisions for investment products based on the private banker's analysis of markets and trends.

Determining how a client's wealth should be allocated across different investment products to ensure that the client's investment or personal goals are met.

Working with clients to explain the risks of each investment and how to recover from losses.

Support clients in asset structuring. Managing an HNWI's wealth is not just about finding ways to protect and grow that wealth, but also understanding the context of that wealth and how it may change over time. Each HNWI has different goals and needs, and your account management strategy needs to take these into account.

Understand the various components of a person's wealth and estate, which may include retirement accounts, insurance packages, annuities, real estate, personal assets (such as houses, vehicles, art or other collections), etc.

Advise your customers with both short-term and long-term goals. Clients are interested in finding ways to grow their wealth (short-term goals) but are also thinking about preserving it for retirement, passing it on to descendants, etc. (long-term goals).

Develop a flexible strategy for managing your clients' wealth as their needs and goals will change over time. For example, you might advise a client to invest more aggressively when they are younger to take advantage of growth opportunities; However, as the client ages, you might advise them to stabilize their investments to protect them.

Provide estate and trust planning services. Many clients seek advice on managing their estate or trust - those assets they wish to bequeath or distribute to others. Laws, regulations and policies relating to estates and trusts can be complex and very specific and as such a private banker must work hard to advise clients well in these areas.

Private bankers can advise clients on the financial aspects of wills and on choosing an executor.

Because different assets are subject to different regulations and strategies, private bankers help clients plan for each asset class. For example, you can help a client decide to leave real estate as an estate for heirs while using other investments as philanthropic gifts.

Many HNWIs plan to form trusts for their dependents, and a private banker will assist in the formation and administration of these trusts.

Charitable giving is another common part of estate planning, and private bankers are encouraged to assist clients in selecting and structuring these gifts.

Inheritance and gift taxes can be significant, and as such much of a private banker's job can involve helping clients make plans to minimize these costs.

Estate and trust plans need to be reviewed and updated regularly as clients' needs and circumstances change over time.

Keep your assets under management (AUM) high and growing. An important key performance indicator (KPI) of private bankers is the amount of their assets under management. This refers to the amount of client funds and investments you manage. It is directly related to the fees that you or your company charge your clients and therefore your commission and salary. To be successful as a private banker, you must keep your AUM high and growing by providing services and products to established and new clients.

Salaries for private bankers working with established firms can vary widely, with estimates ranging from $30,000 to well over $100,000. Much of a private banker's salary is determined by the value of the AUM.

In order to be successful in the long term, private bankers must always think about the needs of their existing customers and attract new ones.