Hambros, takes a look back at the private bank’s decade-long
partnership with Société Générale and talks about its plans in the
coming years. He sees the bank continuing its extension into the
UK’s regions and leveraging opportunities from SocGen’s recent
Russian acquisition, Rosbank.
It is now 10 years since SG Hambros Bank was
launched, having been brought about by the purchase of Hambros Bank
by Société Générale in March 1998.
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The story of Hambros itself goes back to 1839, when Carl Joachim
Hambro established the bank in London and then built it into the
largest merchant bank in the city. Understandably, Hambros’
reputation has been extremely useful in establishing us as one of
the key wealth management players in the UK.
We started with a small trust business and a very small private
banking operation. SG decided to establish a pure UK private
banking business with subsidiaries in Jersey, Guernsey and
Gibraltar by selling off the non-wealth management business areas.
In 1999 we went on to add a Bahamas subsidiary by acquiring the
local Coutts and Co private banking business.
Over the past decade we have established a successful record of
acquisitions with business purchases from Crédit Agricole in
Gibraltar, Brown Shipley in the Channel Islands and most recently
from ABN AMRO in London and Gibraltar. As well as seeing value in
acquisitions, we have also seen increasing potential in expanding
our office network to the UK regional wealth hot spots.
Upping growth and synergies
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By GlobalDataThis resulted in the opening of our first regional office in
2006 in Cambridge and quickly followed with presences in Kent,
Southampton, Milton Keynes and, most recently, Yorkshire.
We are keen to continue our regional expansion and establish a
cohesive network so, even in the current market conditions, we are
looking to both consolidate our existing presences and grow
more.
Over the last 10 years our appeal as a private bank has been to
traditional private clients as well as investment bankers,
entrepreneurs, city professionals and wealthy foreign individuals
and families.
Now we anticipate organic growth from both the UK domestic
business and through leveraging opportunities within the wider SG
Group.
For example, SG has a strategic commitment to Russia and a
majority stake in Rosbank, a Russian bank. London is an attractive
place both for Russians individually and for their investments, so
our business will develop much further by working with our SG
colleagues in the key markets in which the overall group is
interested and London has a synergistic role to play. The obvious
areas include the French, Russian, South Asian and Middle Eastern
markets.
Our client-led strategy has remained constant, despite some
challenging times including the dotcom crash of 2000-02 when the
entire asset management and wealth management industry had a
difficult time as markets collapsed.
We made the decision to keep focusing on client needs and
expanding the business so that although the crash delayed the
return on investment it stood us in good stead as it ensured we
maintained momentum and a growth pattern that has resulted in a
business of over 550 staff and almost £10 billion ($14.8 billion)
of assets under management.
Anglo-Saxon offshore centres
Now we are again in turbulent times, with the most challenging
financial markets we and many of our clients have faced. Again we
believe that we are in a good position to come out of this global
crisis better and stronger. We have an ambitious plan to build our
UK presence both through organic growth and by taking advantage of
acquisition opportunities within the UK and our Anglo-Saxon
offshore centres. The current market turmoil means there are
potential opportunities but extra care is required to ensure they
fit with our client orientated business model and are able to be
integrated swiftly.
We believe as long as we have conviction in our strategy and are
brave enough to carry it through, the best time to succeed is not
when the markets are booming: it is when the markets are more
difficult.
This statement is true not only for the business but also for
the clients which it serves. Naturally some clients are more
conservative than others especially in times of turmoil and
volatility and the key is to ensure they understand the products
and services they are being offered and that they suit their
profile and needs.
Through providing our clients with a service orientated to their
individual requirements during both buoyant and gloomy periods we
believe we have a sustainable business model to ensure we will
continue to grow over the next 10 years and beyond.
