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Rothschild & Co | Annual Report 2017
33
1. Overview
4. Financial statements
3.
Management report
2. Business review
Rothschild Wealth Management & Trust
Rothschild Wealth Management & Trust is the private banking arm of Rothschild & Co in Frankfurt, Geneva, Guernsey,
Hong Kong, London, Manchester, Milan, Reno, Singapore and Zurich.
We advise clients in relation to all their financial and
non-financial wealth. Our goal is to preserve and grow the
real value of our clients’ wealth, with a focus on generating
attractive investment returns. This involves investing in
assets that increase in value over time, beating inflation,
and avoiding large losses along the way. This investment
management approach, coupled with the stability that
comes from our seventh generation of family-controlled
ownership, continues to resonate with an increasing number
of clients around the world, especially in the current
economic environment.
2017 saw strong performance across the business with
both client referrals and acquisition levels positive. Despite
positive net new assets and excellent market performance,
our assets under management remain stable at €21.5
billion. This is due to the appreciation of the euro against all
other currencies in 2017 and the international composition
of our portfolios. In local currencies, all our offices are
showing an increase in assets.
To complement our successful New Court offering, in
Switzerland 2017 saw the launch of Mosaique, a top-down
investment process that provides advice and portfolio
management solutions that cut through the complexity of
today’s world to meet the diverse needs of an international
client base. Thanks to this new approach, the Division’s
Advisory business more than doubled the assets under
management and we expect growth to continue into next
year.
Within our Trust business, we continued to focus on wealth
planning, family governance and business succession
planning on an international basis, on helping clients
to safeguard their assets and create a legacy. With our
distinctive proposition and unique positioning in the market
we remain very well placed to benefit from the major trends
that will continue to re-shape the international wealth
management landscape in the years ahead.
In 2017 we also strengthened our presence in Switzerland
as our Geneva office moved to new, upgraded premises.
Furthermore, in today’s era of rapid digitisation and increased
customer sophistication we initiated an upgrade of our IT
systems by creating a new suite of digital tools. Our efforts
have been recognised by clients as an independent survey
found that 89% of our UK clients are happy with their Client
Adviser and team, the highest rating achieved within our
peer group.
• Winner, Client Service Quality –
Ultra High Net Worth, 2017
• Client Service Quality – UHNW
winner for 4
th
consecutive year
• Best Private Bank in
Switzerland, 2017
• Number one Foreign Bank
in Switzerland, 2017
• Winner, Foreign Private
Bank, 2017
• Best Foreign Private Bank for
the 3
rd
consecutive year
• Best Advisory Services, 2017
• Winner, Wealth Management –
Specialised Bank, 2018
• Best Wealth Management –
Specialised Bank for the 4
th
consecutive year
Our expertise was recognised in several leading industry awards: