Current wisdom in wealth management is that, due to the Covid-19 lockdown disruption and investment uncertainty, it is virtually impossible to attract or embed new clients.

But that’s not the experience of Julius Baer International in the UK, where, like other firms, nearly 100 percent of staff are nowadays working from home.

CEO David Durlacher tells me: “One surprise in particular...was the rate of client onboarding we’ve been able to maintain in the UK. I can’t remember a similar market and societal crisis which has resulted in so much business growth.”

He attributed this to the fact that Baer has...