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By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi
ZURICH, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Barclays plans to enter
four new European private banking markets in 2021, its regional
manager for the business told Reuters.
Gerald Mathieu, who in September became Barclays' private
banking head for Europe outside Britain, said the British bank
was looking to start up the business in France, Italy, Spain and
Germany next year.
"These are the countries where we see a lot of
opportunities, also because we have a very strong footprint of
corporate and investment banking locally," Mathieu said in an
interview.
"The idea is to have a capital-light approach and work in
very close collaboration with the investment bank locally,
targeting family offices, ultra high net worth individuals, and
some qausi-corporate or institutional clients."
The bank said it was too early to disclose hiring plans.
Barclays, which does not separately report revenues or
profits for private banking, maintains hubs for managing wealth
in Europe in Monaco, Switzerland, and Ireland.
It will grow activities in new European markets via its
European Union-licensed platform in Dublin, Mathieu said,
working together with local corporate and investment banking
teams.
Previously Barclays' country head for Switzerland, Mathieu
said the bank had seen an inflow of clients into Switzerland as
the market gained appeal amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both the Swiss and broader European private banking business
were seeing growth in managed assets, he said. But the COVID-19
pandemic and negative interest rates presented particular
challenges to the business and industry as a whole.
"The industry is facing global margin compression and very
aggressive pricing competition," he said. "The private banking
business across Europe is profitable, but we have to anticipate
and adapt our business model to the challenges of these times."
(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Michael
Shields)
