People Moves
HSBC Private Banking Drives EMEA Wealth Services With New Role
The private bank has tapped a senior figure from UBS and Knox Private Office to build wealth planning in the region.
In a newly-created role, HSBC Private
Bank has named Jeremy Franks as head of wealth planning and
advisory, Europe, Middle East and Africa to help build out the
service in the region. He starts immediately and will be based in
London at the bank’s Cork Street office.
Franks will oversee wealth and financial planning services and
build out teams in the UK and EMEA. His remit is to deliver a
coordinated wealth planning service for the region and develop a
product and services offering that covers the full spectrum of
private clients’ needs in each jurisdiction, the bank said
yesterday.
Franks has 20 years’ experience in private client tax and wealth planning, most recently working with ultra-high net worth clients as CEO at Knox Private Office in London’s Piccadilly. Prior to that he spent 12 years at UBS Wealth Management, seven of those as the Swiss firm's UK head of wealth planning advisory. Franks has also worked at PwC in the entrepreneurs and private clients team, and he began his career in private client tax at Smith & Williamson.
The bank said that creating the new position is a key part of its growth aspirations. “We hear time and time again from clients that their conversations with wealth planning - often around significant life events like legacy and succession planning, financial structuring and management - form long-lasting impressions and can play a crucial role in building a strong and lasting relationship with us,” it said.
In February the private banking division of the global lender announced that adjusted pre-tax profit had risen by 1.6 per cent on the year. By region, Asia took the lion’s share of adjusted pre-tax profit at $17.79 billion, while the Middle East and North Africa made up $1.557 billion, North America $799 million, Latin America $559 million, and Europe made a loss of $815 million. The bank said that its global private banking arm had “returned to growth" in 2018 on the back of new business won in Hong Kong.
