High-net-worth rate regional-banks' wealth brands

Paul Hershan

16 July 2007

Market-research firm queries consumers on prestige of private-client groups. SunTrust Private Wealth Management is the most prestigious regional-bank affiliated wealth manager out there, according to a survey of wealthy consumers by the Luxury Institute, a New York-based market-research firm.

Wilmington Trust Wealth Advisors and BB&T Wealth Management come next in order of preference, according to the Luxury Institute's poll of about 500 U.S. consumers, each of them worth at least $5 million.

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The survey results are weighted to match demographic and net-worth profiles of the same audience according to the Federal Reserve's latest Survey of Consumer Finances.

The Luxury Institute's surveys provide respondents with a list of brand names. The respondents are asked to rank the ones they recognize in terms of prestige. So the individual respondent's personal experience with the brands in question may not be a factor, and there's no opportunity for a respondent to nominate a firm that's not on the list.

In addition to the wealth-management units of SunTrust, Wilmington Trust and BB&T the survey choices were US Bank Private Client Group, PNC Advisors, National City Private Client Group, Mellon Private Wealth Management, La Salle, Fifth Third Private Client and Bank of New York Private Client Services. -FWR