TRADITIONALLY, NORDIC DOMESTIC banks have focused on affluent clients, rather than high-net-worth clients. The high level of taxes in the Nordic region, excluding Iceland, has kept a lid on the growth of the high-net-worth sector, while the technology boom pushed a considerable number of Nordic retail clients up into the mass affluent zone.
In 1999, there was a 39% increase in the number of affluent individuals in the Nordic region as a result of their heavy exposure to equities and, in turn, technology stocks. Indeed, although there are only an estimated 114,400 people with more than e300,000 in liquid assets in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, there are more than 1.4 million individuals with e50,000 to e300,000. It is therefore understandable that offerings to wealthy clients have tended to be extensions on retail banking rather than efforts to match clients' specific needs, but this is gradually changing.
"We're finally seeing a private-banking culture starting to develop," explains Marko Kauppi, chief executive of the Finnish Mandatum Private Bank. "It's no longer about putting together retail banking and asset management. The Nordic region is following central Europe by looking at a more holistic wealth management approach."
