Berenberg Bank, the venerable German private bank, has launched private banking operations in the UK to sit alongside the investment banking business it has had in London since 2003.

The bank sees the UK market as a strategic next step in developing its private banking business internationally and it will be providing a full advisory service from its UK headquarters in the City.

The focus of the UK private banking service will be on asset management, handled from the German head office, and tax advisory services and the bank is particularly targeting entrepreneurs, overseas clients living in the UK and UK-domiciled professionals. The Hamburg-based bank also specialises in servicing shipping clients.

Berenberg is of the view that there is strong demand in the UK for an independent private bank where clients can be sure there is no culture of “product pushing”; the bank also believes that its model will find particular favour among the UK’s entrepreneurial market due to the emphasis it places on customising its services. It will not repackage its investment banking products for the UK wealth management market.

Two new managing directors have been appointed to spearhead the development of the new business, Ross Elder and Fred Hervey, both of whom join from Barclays Wealth, where they had previously been vice presidents within its UK business. The operation is being launched with four employees but the intention is to grow this to around ten by the end of the first year depending upon opportunities.

The pair told WealthBriefing that they had been attracted to the German bank by its unlimited liability status, which clients are thought to value, and by its emphasis on its highly flexible proprietary trading and reporting platform.

News of their departure from Barclays Wealth emerged in August of last year, at which time details of their next roles had yet to emerge. Elder had been with the firm since 2006, having previously been a director at HSBC Investment Management. Hervey, meanwhile, joined Barclays Wealth in 2005, prior to which he was also a director at HSBC Investment Management.

Berenberg currently has some €25 billion (around $34 billion) in assets under management and a global staff of around 1,000, of which 100 employees are based in the UK. In addition to London and its nine offices in Germany, the bank is present in Geneva, Zurich, Luxembourg, Paris, Salzburg, Vienna and Shanghai.