‘Banking is all about trust, integrity, trasparency’

Within the private-banking division, how significant a role does the wealth-management component play?

Wealth management is one of the strategically important components of the private bank in ibq. To us, or to me, wealth management is the science of enhancing an individual’s financial

standing. And for you to be able to do that, you have to know this customer and this client. So at ibq, we pride ourselves, and we always say that ibq is not about account numbers. We don’t treat our customers as account numbers. We treat them as a personal relationship. And wealth management is basically what allows you to do that, what allows you to get one-on-one with this client. And then strengthen that customer service that you want to promote, the best customer service. So it all boils down basically to knowing the customer and the client. And I think wealth management is one of if not the most customer-centric divisions of any bank. And this is also true for ibq.

Thinking about what you’ve just said, what are some of the main underlying reasons for ibq being a consistent private-banking leader in Qatar?

We are a 60-year-old bank. And I always like to remind people about that. So this is by itself an advantage for us. So over those 60 years, we were able to build very strong relationships with the important families, or as we like to say, the key families in the state of Qatar. How people look at us … I’ll give you an example. In the UK, you have Coutts, and they are always associated with the royal family. And it’s kind of the same for ibq in Qatar, that they do associate us with the key merchants and the key families in the state of Qatar. We make friends with our customers. And this is what I call at the moment of truth is when you reach a point where you are friends with your customers; they come see you all the time, you go visit them, and then you strengthen this trust between you and them. We see them at the office all the time. On many occasions, we see sometimes—because we deal with three generations here, because we are a 60-year-old bank—you see the father and the son meeting by chance in the lobby of the private bank. So this is something unique, and you don’t usually see it in other banks. So it’s three to four generations of clients that we have built and dealt with over the years. And this was what made us, if you like, the private bank of Qatar.

Now, in terms of strategy and product offerings, is there any significant difference in the way you approach, say, high-net-worth clients with ultra-high- net-worth clients? How does that work?

To us, each client is different. And this is true in every bank. The most important thing is our relationship man- ager. And the bank, they give the same service, the same level of service, to all their clients in the same way. Whether they are ultra-high-net-worth or high-net-worth. De- spite their portfolio size with ibq. Because our mission as private bankers, wealth managers and relationship managers is to know these customers. To know them well. So whether he’s ultra-high-net-worth or high-net-worth, it doesn’t change. We still need to know them well. We need to know their goals. We need to understand them. It’s the more you know them, the more you know their aspirations. The more you know their goals, the better you can serve them. And this is our job, basically. Whether they’re high-net-worth or ultra-high-net-worth.

Thinking about that trust and the importance of relationship, you’ve been at the bank now for about 20 years. I think you joined in 1998 when it was ANZ Grindlays Bank. How has having had such a long lega- cy with the bank helped you in heading up the private banking division?

It’s 20 excellent years to me. And this has given me the opportunity to build actually what I have built today. It’s hand-pick those wealth managers, my colleagues, who became eventually friends. So I was able to build a strong relationship with this team because I hand-picked them with different experiences, different expertise. I have wealth managers, I have private bankers that have the wealth management expertise, the market knowledge. I have some wealth managers who know the culture well, and they know everybody in the country to help us basically to get through the doors to those big families that we want to get through to. Because we are 60 years old, we were able to retain good relationship managers, good wealth managers. The average years that our RMs have been with us, it’s from 15 to 40 years. Five of our relationship managers in the private bank have been with us for over 20 years. So this immediately would put us at an advantage over the competition and over other banks, other private banks, because we know our customers so well. We know the market so well. And this is true for me. The 20 years of experience that I was able to get in Qatar. Despite the fact that it’s a small country. But it’s a strong and very wealthy country. And this has helped me build a great team and eventually build a great private bank.

So, team is really important. What do you consider to be the other important factors in building successful long-term client relationships?

I think to me it’s all about trust and about integrity and transparency. When you have those, then you’re going to gain the trust of your customer. And at the end of the day, this is what they want from you. I always like to say this example. When you go to the same barber most of your life, right, you don’t change your barber. You trust that he knows exactly what he is doing. Even though that example might sound a bit odd, but it’s very true. You go to the same barber, to the same hairdresser. And then you trust them, even sometimes with a knife, you know, very close to your neck. So I tell my team, we want our customers to trust us like this. Because when you gain the trust, you gain the customer. He’s going to always come to you. He’s going to always look for you when it comes to his goals, his plans, his aspirations. His wealth planning, transfer of wealth, so he’s going to come to you. So this is why I think it’s very important.

Let’s turn that on its head a little, though. How much focus do you now place on new client acquisition vis-à- vis improving the service to your existing client base?

That’s a good question. I think they work together. They’re hand-in-hand. And I’ll tell you, I’ll explain to you how—when your client is satisfied, and he’s happy, and you are giving him the best service. And basically he’s satisfied with the level of professionalism that you are giving to him, eventually he’s going to introduce you. So while you work hard on cultivating the existing relationships and then taking care of your existing clients, eventually those clients, and this happens every day, they’re going to tell their friends, they’re going to tell their cousins and their brothers and sisters about you. And the best introduction in our business comes from a client, from a satisfied client.