Private banks increase penetration of IFA territory

"If you look at the upper end of the IFA market place the competition starts to become much more acute as private banks are bringing their proposition to the more affluent market place" said John Porteous, director at BDO Stoy Hayward. Commenting on the asset threshold levels that private banks are considering, Porteous explained that whilst there was no uniform definition the threshold used to sit around the £5m mark. "However, the banks are now looking at the £1.5m-£3m bracket so, of course, the competition for wealthy affluent clients is increasing." "What we now see is classic UBS ...