Big names like Merrill, Smith Barney and Bank of America marred by downturn. Multifamily office Bessemer Trust has emerged as the most prestigious brand in U.S. wealth management -- and the firm viewed as most worthy of premium fees -- according to a recent poll of high-net-worth consumers by the Luxury Institute, a New York-based market research firm that tracks the spending habits and preferences of the affluent.

Bessemer came first in a field of 35 firms that provide wealth-management services in the U.S., followed by the private-client arm of Bank of America's LaSalle Bank, with BB&T Wealth Management and US Bank's Private Client Group tied for third spot.

Prestigious v. famous

The Luxury Institute's latest Luxury Brand Status report on wealth-management firms is gleaned from an online survey, conducted in March 2009, of 1,013 U.S. adults with at least $2 million in investable assets. It covers the respondents' impression of firms' quality, exclusivity, social status, price worthiness and ability to make the client "feel special," and then goes on to gauge whether or not respondents would recommend firms to "people [they] care about" and why (or why not).

The survey data is weighted with respect to age and income to match criteria used by the Federal Reserve Board for its Survey of Consumer Finances.

Bessemer's high ranking in terms of brand status doesn't imply it's the best known wealth management firm in the U.S. In fact it ranks twenty-second out of 35 in terms of popularity.

The firms with which respondents had the greatest familiarity were Schwab, Merrill Lynch (part of Bank of America since early this year), Fidelity, Citigroup's Smith Barney (now part of a joint venture with Morgan Stanley 's private-client business), and Goldman Sachs.

But, though Schwab and Fidelity are "buoyed by perceptions of the quality of their products and services," other big names -- specifically Merrill, Bank of America Private Bank (part of Bank of America's U.S. Trust unit), Citigroup Private Bank, Ameriprise and Smith Barney -- were rated lowest in terms of brand prestige among the 35 firms in question, scoring below the norm on all four components of the survey as well as perceived worthiness of fee premiums and the willingness of wealthy consumers to recommend the firm to others.

Goldman scores above average for having "clients that are admired and respected," but otherwise scores only marginally above the norms. -FWR

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