private banking innovation

Dr. Ivo Furrer of SwissLife on Life Insurance Products in the Private Banking Market

arvetica — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:34:37 +0000

Life insurance can address many needs of private banking customers, such as estate planning, capital protection or tax optimization, to name a few. Newer generations of life insurance products – in particular variable annuity (VA) products and private placement life insurance (PPLI, also called insurance wrappers) allow for flexible, transparent and need-based diversification of wealthy clients’ portfolios, thus offering an interesting alternative to trusts or foundations.

In our video interview, Dr. Ivo Furrer, CEO Switzerland of SwissLife and member of SwissLife’s Corporate Executive Board provides valuable insights into a range of topics concerning the use of VA and PPLI products in the private and affluent banking segments. In particular, Dr. Furrer talks about

the range and combination of customer needs addressed by these types of products,
ways and means for private banks to position PPLI, but also VA products in their market offering, and
the approach SwissLife takes in marketing these products, describing the importance of multi-channel and business-to-business marketing.

Enjoy the interview here:

Private Banking Library Update

arvetica — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:01:49 +0000

The Private Banking Library has undergone a major update. It now contains a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of surveys, reports, whitepapers and articles useful for the visitors of privatebankinginnovation.com. We will continue to enhance and update the Private Banking Library over the next few weeks and months and so provide a valuable and comprehensive collection of reference to everyone interested in strategy, organization and technology in the private banking industry.

If you happen to have any feedback or suggestions for the Private Banking Library, please do not hesitate to provide your comment to info@privatebankinginnovation.com.

Dr. Werner E. Rutsch on Current Trends and Challenges in Swiss Private Banking

arvetica — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:00:15 +0000

Private banking – and in particular Swiss private banking – is currently undergoing change. While many elements and aspects of the changes have been forecasted and discussed for a while, they certainly are accelerated by the lasting external pressure on some of the regulations and practices applicable to Swiss private banking.
In the industry’s search for ways and means to position Swiss private banking in the new environment, the book ‘Swiss Banking – wie weiter?’ contributes many facts and insights on the history, the roots and the underlying values of Swiss private banking. The book not only shows where the industry is coming from, it also provides opinions on and possible adjustments for some developments and practices which are – from today’s perspective – considered detrimental to the industry.

In our video interview, Dr. Werner E. Rutsch, co-author of ‘Swiss Banking – wie weiter?’ shares some of his knowledge and views on

the core values of Swiss banking, i.e. the roots of local virtues and work ethics, and their importance for the future.
aspects of ‘Swissness’ and it’s importance for the banking industry.
future positionings and strategic directions, from an individual bank’s and from an industry perspective.

Enjoy the full video interview here:

Professor Sita Mazumder on Diversity

arvetica — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:46:13 +0000

In private banking, as in many other industries, client bases are becoming more and more heterogeneous. Demographic, socio-cultural and economic shifts - to name a few of the driving forces of this development - are reshaping the composition of many private bank’s clientele.
Private banks now face the challenge of dealing with the developments, by determining the changes in their clients’ preferences and needs, but also by exloring access to new client types and segments.
In this context, some industry players have started to actively support and deliberately manage diversity in their workforce, ultimately aiming to gain strategic advantage through a better understanding of the marketplace.

Professor Mazumder from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts is an active researcher and lecturer in the field of diversity management. In our video interview, Professor Mazumder shares her knowledge and insights on

the decision process regarding the introduction of diversity, including the process’ driving forces
the interdependencies of stategy, culture and structure that come into play when implementing diversity
the process of implementation, including its implications on cost and timeframe

Enjoy the full video interview here:

Olivier Duterme of ING Bank (Switzerland) on Crisis Management

arvetica — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:00:10 +0000

Mr. Olivier Duterme, General Manager of ING Bank (Switzerland) shares his insights on the impact of the current financial crisis on private banks. In particular, Mr. Duterme talks about changes in customer behaviour, such as increased cautiousness and need for transparency and security. Private banks react to these changes by intensifying or adapting communication between clients and relationship managers in the short, but also in the longer run. Additionally, Mr. Duterme expects the industry to accelerate its efforts regarding concepts such as simplicity (added value) or operational excellence.

Get the full webcast with Mr. Duterme here:

Professor Beat Bernet on the Future of Investment Banking

arvetica — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:22:24 +0000

Today we talk to Prof. Dr. Beat Bernet, professor at the University of St. Gallen’s Swiss Institute of Banking and Finance, and founder of Bernet & Partner. Professor Bernet shares his thoughts on the current situation and the future development of the investment banking industry. He shows us the interdependencies of private and investment banking and how the change of investment banking will affect core topics in private banking. The transformed investment banking industry will affect not only the way private banks cooperate with investment banks, but will also generate new and different types of client demands.

Get the full webcast here:

Bernet & Partner to continue privatebankinginnovation.com

arvetica — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:26:47 +0000

Since January 1st, 2009, privatebankinginnovation.com is run by Bernet & Partner, a leading Swiss banking consultancy specialized in management and strategy, marketing, processes and structures, as well as technology. Bernet & Partner will carry on the blog to stimulate innovative thinking in strategy, organization and technology for private banking executives.

Today, privatebankinginnovation.com gathers more than 500 subscribers worldwide who consider it a hub for industry knowledge on the evolution in private banking and wealth management.

To obtain more information concerning the acquisition of arvetica, the founder privatebankinginnovation.com, by Swiss Benchmarking and Bernet & Partner, refer to www.bernet-partner.ch, www.swissbenchmarking.ch, or www.arvetica.com.

Thinking Visually to Tackle Business Challenges (in private banking)

arvetica — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:11:58 +0000

Vacations are already far behind us in the western hemisphere and we are picking up with posting on our blog. In this first blogpost after the summer break we put the focus on how thinking visually can help tackle business challenges.

Statistical surveys have shown that design and visualization have a verifiable impact on business performance. Visual articulation is important when solving a problem that involves strategic goals and initiatives. At its core, it helps bridge the problem or opportunity with the solution. That is why helping decision makers to think and express themselves visually gives organizations a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Vizthink Conference (October 12-14, 2008, Berlin, Germany)

Dave Gray, CEO of XPLANE, the leading visual thinking company, talks about how visual thinking can help private bankers achieve a competitive advantage in the following podcast/video of the VizThink conference:

VizThink operates conferences in North America and Europe focusing on visual thinking. Their success underlines the rising awareness of visual thinking in business (starting with “reforming” those bullet sprinkled PowerPoint presentations…).

Geneva XPLANE Workshop (October 1st, 2008)

Within this context we are also happy to announce a workshop on the topic of visual thinking for business people in Geneva on October 1st. (flyer). It is organized by XPLANE and Arvetica will participate in the event as guest speakers. Stefano Mastrogiacomo, founder and partner at Arvetica will speak about “Designing and Implementing Strategy Visually with Strategy Maps”.

The event promises to be a great and practical introduction to visual thinking. The goals are the following:

Understand the meaning and value of visual thinking
Use a creative and innovative method to solve business challenges
Use visual tools to help you generate, evaluate and organize ideas
Learn how to use them to contextualize, prioritize and harness change
Extend these new techniques and methodology to your team

If you are interested you can register for the workshop here.

London XPLANE Workshop (October 30th, 2008)

There will be another event on visual thinking by XPLANE in London on September 30th. Arvetica partner Alexander Osterwalder will participate as a guest speaker and talk specifically about business model innovation. More information here.

Professor Peter Bossaerts of the Swiss Finance Institute and EPFL on Neurofinance

arvetica — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:52:59 +0000

In today’s webcast we talk to Professor Peter Bossaerts of the Swiss Finance Institute on neurofinance, one of the cutting edge topics in financial research. Prof Bossaerts, who is a globally leading research in this domain, explains us what neurofinance is about and what the implications for private bankers are. It is the right thing “to chew on” during summer vacation.

For example, neurofinance shows that investors have some cognitive biases that will affect their investment behavior. It is evolutionary ingrained in our brain that for survival reasons we tend to take more risks when things are going badly. Prof Bossaerts recommends that it should be the banker’s task to pro-actively explain such biases to their clients to help them better understand sound investment behavior and make better decisions.

Get more insights into neurofinance from Prof Bossaerts in the webcast (short video):

watch the full webcast:

Peter Braunwalder, CEO HSBC Private Bank on the Success Factors of a CEO Succession

arvetica — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:42:40 +0000

CEO succession planning is a very important, but often neglected, topic in business. This is particularly relevant in a relationship- and trust-based business such as private banking. Mr Peter Braunwalder, chief executive of HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA, shares his insights into successful succession planning with us in today’s webcast. Mr Braunwalder is retiring from his role as CEO this October and will hand over to Mr Alexandre Zeller, currently chief executive of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV).

Learn more about CEO succession planning from Mr Braunwalder’s experience in today’s webcast: