Paul Whelan
It may be unusual to describe a firm with over two hundred years’ history as entrepreneurial, but that is exactly how Paul Whelan, a director and senior private banker, describes Mirabaud.
Having joined the firm in February this year, following the closure of Berenberg’s UK wealth management business, Mr Whelan was struck by the flexibility and entrepreneurial spirit of the firm.
Founded in 1819, the Swiss private bank is still family owned and employees around 700 people globally. London is its second largest office, with just over 100 people. The London office includes Mirabaud Asset Management, Mirabaud Securities, as well as the private bank.
Despite this size, the firm is careful with its hiring.
It aims to only hire “very experienced” people, which helps the bank to keep its staff numbers lower while still ensuring clients receive a high quality service.
Trust and confidence are crucial for the private banking industry.
In the wake of the collapse of Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank, Mr Whelan acknowledged that governance is more at the front of clients’ minds. Although he was keen to stress there had been no real change in confidence of the Swiss banking system.
This has meant Mirabaud has not seen a change in client confidence surrounding the firm. Moreover, its own governance structure helps increase trust, Mr Whelan argued.
Due to still being family owned and run, the people running the bank are also looking after their own money and, as such, do not take unnecessary risks.
“People spend their own money differently to how they would spend someone else’s,” Mr Whelan noted.
Aside from increasing confidence, this also gives the bank insights into what it is clients want and has resulted in a “very client centric” approach. As many staff as possible are client facing, with even the London head of wealth management Stuart Bates meeting clients on a regular basis.
This approach reflects the bank’s commitment to a personalised wealth management service, where most bankers look after around 20 to 30 clients.
Having a relatively low level of clients, means the service offered can genuinely be personalised, Mr Whelan explained. The bank does not shy away from complicated cases either. “We aim to see the bigger picture,” he added.
While some are questioning the future of this kind of service, especially as many firms are striving for scalability through technological developments, Mirabaud is confident in its approach.
“Saville Row still exists for a reason,” Mr Whelan said. “People like to speak to people.”
This is particularly true in turbulent times, like now. Clients are far more likely to reach out when their investments are not performing as well.
“The elephant in the room is no one knows exactly what is going to happen to markets in the near future,” Mr Whelan said.
However, Mirabaud’s house view is to be “cautiously optimistic”. This is perhaps helped by its client base and their specific requirements.
The majority of Mirabaud’s clients are very wealthy and are investing for a very long-time, not just the next five to 10 years.
As a result, for most of the private bank’s clients, inflation and interest rates have a relatively limited impact on the way they invest. This is because, as ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs), most are unlikely to need to access much of their assets in the short-term, or even necessarily in their lifetime.
“If you’re taking a long-term view, it just doesn’t affect you in the same way,” Mr Whelan explained.
A different approach is needed to manage money in this way. A lot of typical investment guidelines – like traditional 60/40 portfolios – are designed for mass affluent clients. Indeed, these guidelines do tend to be appropriate for these individuals.
However, UHNWIs can often afford to take more “measured” risk and can stray away from typical portfolio structures at times.
With this in mind, Mirabaud also looks beyond traditional public markets for its investments. The bank facilitates private equity (PE) investments and has been doing so for a long time.
This includes offering standard access to private equity houses like KKR and Carlyle Group. At times Mirabaud also offers “club” and specific deals.
Mirabaud also has the longest running fund of hedge funds – Haussmann - which dates back over 50 years. The bank buys back from clients to help reduce liquidity risk and make it an attractive offering for many to invest in.
Mr Whelan explained the “core” of its investment offering is still a multi-asset class, diversified portfolio, but this can be made as bespoke as necessary to suit an individual client’s needs.
