Santander’s private bankers profit from a year of hard toil

It has been a curious year for private banking and wealth management, an industry that profits more – if only in the short term – when times are bad.

That’s not an indictment, merely a statement of reality.

When hardship hits – in this case, the Covid pandemic – those with deeper pockets look to relationship managers for help. Two shifts follow.

First, wealth seeks out geographic safe havens. Second, it gravitates toward the best big private banks, or to niche wealth managers with high capital ratios and good credit ratings.