How nice to see Coutts & Co dipping its toe into the balmy waters of global wealth management, but without the aggressive wham, bam, thank you, Ma’am approach of previous years.

It has just hired a family office specialist Paul Bagatelas to head up its international initiative. The man started off as a career diplomat with the US State Department and subsequently worked for firms like Carlyle Group.

In Coutts-speak, “international” actually translates into ultra-high...