Private Banking: German banks try to keep hold of local relationships

Germany is the European market that most excites foreign banks seeking new wealth management business. But a few local players still dominate a market that should be ripe for internationalization. Mark Brown reports.

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Fairly or unfairly, Germans enjoy a reputation for chauvinism. It certainly appears that when they choose their private wealth managers, German clients instinctively opt for a well-known local name. And local doesn’t always stretch to mean German.

“We have a Hamburg market, a Cologne-Düsseldorf market, a Frankfurt market and a Munich market,” says Klaus Kirchmayr, a partner at Zurich-based consultancy Millenium Associates. “If you are in Cologne, it’s prestigious to be a client of Sal Oppenheim.

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