Australia’s NAB restructures HNW business

The National Australia Bank Group, one of the country’s big four banks, has restructured its high net worth (HNW) business, which will see its private banking arm renamed NAB Private.

Australia's NAB restructures HNW business

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Under the new structure, NAB Private will become a pure private banking proposition for HNW clients, offering specialised services such as, structured finance, and JBWere, its specialist private wealth advisory business, will provide clients with financial advice.

JBWere chief executive Justin Greiner said: “The decision to adopt this new model followed extensive research from our high net worth clients and the clear message coming back was that they want deep expertise from their trusted private bankers and wealth advisers.

No one-stop shop

“Our clients are telling us they want a seamless experience between their banker and wealth adviser, but no longer need a one-stop shop approach. They want specialists who are focused on delivering the best banking solutions and their wealth advisers to be an expert in wealth,” Greiner said.

NAB Private executive general manager, Christine Yates, said Australia was an emerging market with 450,000 high net worth individuals, who are broadly defined as people with over A$1m (£530,000, $655,000) of investible assets outside of their family home.

“Our research shows that many in this group don’t feel entitled to have a private banker. There is a perception that you need multi-millions to be eligible,’’ she said.

“As an industry, we need to work on the education piece around what is available for high net worth Australians, and how they can best utilise resources from both a private banking and private wealth management perspective,” Yates added.