Private bankers wanted in South Africa
Private banking is a good career choice in Africa, experts say. The sector is growing as the tally of high net worth individuals increases at a yearly rate of 11%, much faster than the global average of 8.3%. Both foreign and local banks in South Africa, the continent’s largest economy, are beefing up their teams in an attempt to exploit new pools of wealth, deepen coverage and grow a fee-generating business. It is a very competitive field, but the upshot is that demand for new talent is very high.
“I have done a lot of work in private banking and wealth management recruitment so I can confirm that there is definitely a lot of demand for qualified private bankers in South Africa,” says Andrew Miskell, manager of financial services & HR at Michael Page South Africa. “Normally good private bankers are people who enjoy client facing scenarios, can analyse financials and are able to understand both sides of the balance sheet, that is provide a holistic approach to solving client needs.”
After the financial crisis the sector is experiencing a ‘return to basics’, focusing on the level of service and the quality of advice with an emphasis on transparency, trust and clients’ needs. Clients are increasingly looking for non-traditional investment vehicles and want asset diversification and high returns. “The high net worth client is a big market segment in South Africa and the private banking industry is getting more and more sophisticated,” says Phryne Williams, managing director of Capital Assignments, a specialist financial services recruitment firm. “Banks are integrating their investment, banking and lending areas to better service their high net worth clients. People who want to work in this sector need to be excellent relationship builders who will do whatever it takes to keep the client happy.”
Demand is for both new-entry and experienced private bankers. “Good private bankers are always in demand but clients prefer to deal with knowledgeable and academically qualified individuals, preferably with a post-graduate qualification in commerce,” says Williams. The ideal candidate should have completed a post-graduate course in financial planning such as Certified Financial Planner, says Miskell, but academic qualifications aside “these individuals need to be self-starters in order to do well in a private banking role. It is more of a challenge to find private bankers with strong high net worth client experience. International experience is a definite plus but what is even more important is a track record of experience within this space.”
RMB Private Bank, which is part of the FirstRand group, is for example looking for “seasoned fiduciary, wealth management, lending or credit specialists” but also for “graduates or people new to the financial services industry”. Last week RMB Private Bank won six awards for its private banking services, including best private banking service provider in South Africa and Africa in the 2012 Euromoney global private banking survey. “These awards stand testament to our commitment to building and maintaining solid relationships with our clients and providing sound wealth management solutions tailored to suit their individual as well as family wealth legacy aspirations,” said Gavin Tarr, head of RMB private bank.
