A Q&A with Mark Evans, head of RBC's global wealth management platform in the British Isles

Last week, we had a chance to chat with Mark Evans, head of Global Wealth Management - British Isles, RBC Wealth Management This is what Mark told us...

Last year, RBC Wealth Management hired 550 people for its international business. Does RBC Wealth Management expect to hire a similar number this year, or is recruitment cooling off a bit now?

We're still very much looking for good people - both for our internationally focused business, and for our UK platform. Last year RBC Wealth Management made more than 1,200 hires globally. This year we're in the happy position where we're able and willing to hire.

Where do you see the main growth in your UK business coming from over the next few years?

We're looking for bankers to operate both in our UK domestic and international businesses. Both of these businesses are based in London. A number of our bankers are frequently on the move visiting clients.

Last year the London office focused on hiring bankers who cover Latin America, the US and the non-resident Indian market. This year we're particularly looking to hire people who can cover the Middle East and CIS countries.

Barclays Wealth is also planning to grow its wealth management business, but rather than recruiting experienced asset gatherers, it plans to hire inexperienced wealth managers and train them up. Do you intend to do the same?

In our opinion, you need a combined approach. If you're going into a new market, you do need senior people to lead the team, but we are also happy to train people up and indeed want to give people that career progression.

Is your training programme mostly focused around graduate hires, or does it also cater for career changers? For example, would you train a corporate financier who wants to move into private banking?

Generally, we tend not to train people who want to switch into private banking from other career areas. The skill sets that make a good investment banker are very different to those that make a good wealth manager. Wealth Management is a relationship business - you're dealing with individuals on a personal basis, which is very different to dealing with chief executives regarding an IPO or merger. Our experience is generally that former investment bankers aren't always very suited to making the transfer into wealth management.

Are there any client groups you particularly plan to target in the UK?

Ours is a genuinely high net worth business. Our focus is top echelon clients. As an absolute minimum, our clients must have 1m of liquid assets under management, however the average is far higher.

Are you only looking for relationship managers, or are you hiring across the business?

We are hiring across the business both in the UK Domestic and the Global Wealth Management businesses. We also have a strong and growing investment team for which we're hiring and will likely need people in IT, risk management and finance to support this growth.

Do you expect relationship managers to bring a minimum value of assets with them?

Whether our bankers are serving UK domestic or international clients, we expect them to be well connected and we expect them to work towards ascertaining a minimum of 100 million of assets and 1 million revenues.

Does most of your hiring take place through headhunters, or do you approach people directly?

Around 70% of our new hires have come through headhunters. The remainder have been direct recruits.

How is your pay structured? Do you pay discretionary bonuses, or will you offer percentage deals?

Most of our pay is discretionary.

Why should people want to work for RBC Wealth Management? Sell me its advantages!

Well, there are many. Firstly, there's the strength and stability of the organisation - RBC has come through the last couple of years incredibly well. We still have a Aaa rating by Moody's and have benefitted tremendously from a flight to quality. We're increasingly becoming one of the most respected names on the block.

Secondly, there's our organisational structure. I believe that our model of wealth management, in which we have teams of professionals working together to serve clients, is exactly right in this market. Many relationship managers are focused on investment assets and tend to be protective of their clients and won't share them. We're looking for exactly the opposite - team players who can provide excellent service to clients by working with colleagues to provide the best solutions for clients.