Private banks under pressure to change business models

Amid the losses suffered by individuals, corporations and institutions from the global financial crisis has emerged the opportunity for private banks to step into the spotlight and highlight their strengths. Private banks, after all, are associated with financial advisory services and what was sorely lacking during the buying frenzy in capital markets in the run-up to the financial crisis was precisely that: advice. Too many investors were chasing the momentum, and sales-driven money managers were all too happy to take in the excess liquidity. The rest, as they say, is history.