For today’s webcast we visited Professor Hans Geiger of the Swiss Banking Institute (ISB) again. He was one of the first interviewees on our blog. We talked about various issues related to the current state of the private banking industry.

Enjoy the full webcast with Professor Hans Geiger below:

In a first series of questions we asked Professor Geiger about the sustainability of foreign expansions of numerous private banks and the possible consolidation in the private banking industry.

We moved on to discuss the breaking up of the private banking value chain and particularly the rise of non-bank actors, such as independent asset managers or funds of hedge funds. As to independent asset managers Professor Geiger believes that their market share will certainly increase in the future, but he predicts that their number will decrease. Whereas their current size averages 3-4 people today, he believe they should probably have about 10 people.

Professor Geiger also pointed to the rise of product specialists and highlighted that the distinction between bank and non-bank actors is generally becoming blurred. He believes there is no more necessity today to be a bank to offer private banking services, though the Swiss banking status helps for reputation.

At the end of the webcast we asked Professor Geiger about the state of private banking education, particularly in Switzerland. He explained that Switzerland is very good at the quantitative side of the business, such as asset management and risk management. Yet, he stressed there is room for improvements on the “softer side”, like understanding the customer, which is obviously very important in private banking.

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