REVscene Automotive Forum - View Single Post

lowside67 · 05-21-2025, 03:48 PM

Disclaimer at the top... I work for BMO in our Private Wealth team, though I am not technically a Private Banker.

...

The two groups that actually NEED private banking are:

1) Those that have lending requirements that are more complicated than the branch is equipped to deal with. The important part of this is complexity, not size. If you and your partner earn a combined $1M household income and want a $3M mortgage on a $4M house, you can walk right into the branch - you do not need a private banker. However, you do need a private banker if you are self employed and retain income in your holding company, want to leverage a stock portfolio, a group of commercial buildings, private company shares, an airplane, etc.

2) You are a large deposit client who merits aggressive pricing on deposit products. This is not a large investment portfolio, but rather cash on hand - whether in personal name or holding company. A $1M sustained cash deposit balance is probably the floor on this, but generally we are seeing those clients mostly staying at the branch, and the private bank is targeting deposits more like $2M+ (you would be surprised how many people exist in Vancouver who keep $10-100M in treasury accounts, it is wild).

There are a few other groups that might end up in private banking, but do not NEED to be:

1) You have a large investment portfolio with me and want to have the dedicated point of contact for day to day banking.

2) You want the shiny debit card and are okay paying a few bucks for that privilege.

3) You have complicated transactional banking (like you travel to Europe regularly and need Euro cash on the regular or wire transactions etc) and qualify for PB, and pay the fee.

Our private bankers are revenue based and are not inclined to just go straight to the lowest rate. We have many clients who are great clients of mine and have a significant net worth, but have simple day to day needs, and we may have them work directly with the branch for the absolute lowest cost lending, but then my team fills in to provide some of the support & dedicated point of contact.

TL;DR is if you need private banking, you need it, as you have a requirement that cannot be fulfilled elsewhere in the bank. But, many people do not need it, even if they could qualify, and therefore choose to save the few bucks and can call me occasionally if they need some help.

-Mark

05-21-2025, 03:48 PM	#35066
lowside67 Old School RS Join Date: May 2004 Location: Port Moody Posts: 4,641 Thanked 4,157 Times in 1,262 Posts Failed 130 Times in 80 Posts	Disclaimer at the top... I work for BMO in our Private Wealth team, though I am not technically a Private Banker. ... The two groups that actually NEED private banking are: 1) Those that have lending requirements that are more complicated than the branch is equipped to deal with. The important part of this is complexity, not size. If you and your partner earn a combined $1M household income and want a $3M mortgage on a $4M house, you can walk right into the branch - you do not need a private banker. However, you do need a private banker if you are self employed and retain income in your holding company, want to leverage a stock portfolio, a group of commercial buildings, private company shares, an airplane, etc. 2) You are a large deposit client who merits aggressive pricing on deposit products. This is not a large investment portfolio, but rather cash on hand - whether in personal name or holding company. A $1M sustained cash deposit balance is probably the floor on this, but generally we are seeing those clients mostly staying at the branch, and the private bank is targeting deposits more like $2M+ (you would be surprised how many people exist in Vancouver who keep $10-100M in treasury accounts, it is wild). There are a few other groups that might end up in private banking, but do not NEED to be: 1) You have a large investment portfolio with me and want to have the dedicated point of contact for day to day banking. 2) You want the shiny debit card and are okay paying a few bucks for that privilege. 3) You have complicated transactional banking (like you travel to Europe regularly and need Euro cash on the regular or wire transactions etc) and qualify for PB, and pay the fee. Our private bankers are revenue based and are not inclined to just go straight to the lowest rate. We have many clients who are great clients of mine and have a significant net worth, but have simple day to day needs, and we may have them work directly with the branch for the absolute lowest cost lending, but then my team fills in to provide some of the support & dedicated point of contact. TL;DR is if you need private banking, you need it, as you have a requirement that cannot be fulfilled elsewhere in the bank. But, many people do not need it, even if they could qualify, and therefore choose to save the few bucks and can call me occasionally if they need some help. -Mark __________________ I'm old now - boring street cars and sweet race cars.