Family Wealth Report recently talked to the head of art advisory of Citi Wealth – appointed to the role in April – about a recent white paper on risks to art from disasters, and the mindset collectors should adopt.

With forest fires, floods and other disasters making news headlines, one group of people who wonder how they reduce the risk of losing their possessions to a calamity are collectors of fine art.

The issue is sufficiently urgent that Citigroup recently issued a white paper, Protecting art from nature’s wrath: A guide for private collectors. It explores the ways art collectors can protect against loss, natural and human disasters.

“Some insurers are limiting how many artworks can be in place because of risks…when people talk about diversification in an art collection, they talk about genres, but it is also about where the art is located,” Betsy Bickar, head of art advisory, Citi Wealth, told Family Wealth Report in a call. 

Bickar and colleagues help people develop art collections, and work with them on matters such as logistics, insurance, curation, provenance and compliance.

“Documentation of what you own is critical,” she said; owners should keep track of where all their possessions are and have an evaluation plan. “It is about readiness.”

Citigroup’s focus on this topic is part of a trend. In late June this year, FortressFire®, a US wildfire analytics and property-specific protection service provider, launched an insurance program aimed at collectors of fine art.  

The massive fires the wreaked havoc in southern California seem to have been a particular driving force for fresh thinking. The art world had a wakeup call when fires came close to destroying the Getty Villa, part of the J Paul Getty Museum complex, for example.

The recent disasters have also highlighted that asset location is as important as asset allocation. Oliver Pursche, SVP and advisor at Wealthspire Advisors in the US, recently spoke to FWR about location diversification for art collections. 

Art advisory
The art advisory field has been one that Citigroup, and its private bank, has been involved in for some time. Bickar, who was appointed to her role in April, was previously a senior art advisor. For the past decade, she has advised ultra-high net worth clients on buying and selling art. Fluent in Spanish, Bickar honed her skills in Latin America, where she founded and managed an art gallery.

Bickar also follows in the footsteps of figures such as Suzanne Gyorgy, who was global head of art advisory at Citi Private Bank for 14 years, before heading off to Emigrant Bank Fine Art Finance in September 2023. 

Citi Wealth’s art advisory team complements the bank’s art finance team led by Fotini Xydas. This creates opportunities for bankers to engage with art collectors without financing requirements. The team acts as a fiduciary for clients – which Citigroup said is a differentiator.

Part of Bickar’s role, she said, is undertaking the due diligence work for clients so that they can enjoy art and not get distracted by the chores of paperwork. 

“We want this [art collecting] to be fun for the client,” she said. “We are art historians dealing with the nuts and bolts of art investing.”

Citi Wealth can talk with authority on art – its provenance, the artist, where an artwork is from, its previous ownership, unusual characteristics, where it sits within a genre, and other attributes.

Bickar also works with clients in areas such as philanthropy, gifting and transferring works of art, in collaboration with Citi Wealth’s Philanthropic Advisory group, led by Karen Kardos.

With regard to philanthropy, gifting artworks to a gallery is not always straightforward, given that a gallery may lack the space and resources. 

Bickar spelled out a series of steps that collectors should take to remove some of the heartburn if there is a fire or other threat: Catalogue a collection, back up records and digitize documentation; keep hard copies in a safe place; review insurance values and ensure that schedules and insured locations are up to date; review how and where your collection is on display; consider installing temperature, humidity, water and movement monitoring sensors with alert capabilities, especially for locations that are often vacant; and prepare a written evacuation plan, prioritizing items for removal.

As this news service has reported, the world of fine art is an important topic for many HNW and ultra-HNW individuals; it is also a barometer of their values and appetite for risk. A number of firms, such as UBS, JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Deutsche Bank provide specialist art advice and specialist lending offerings. According to the Deloitte & Art Tactic – Art & Finance Report 2023, it found that 87 per cent of family offices have an interest in physical ownership of art, but they are also looking at alternative art ownership structures such as art and culture-related social impact investments (37 per cent) and fractional ownership (30 per cent).