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Gerald Mathieu, who in September became Barclays' private
banking head for Europe outside Britain, said the British bank
was looking to start up the business in France, Italy, Spain and
Germany next year.
"These are the countries where we see a lot of opportunities,
also because we have a very strong footprint of corporate and
investment banking locally," Mathieu said in an interview.
"The idea is to have a capital-light approach and work in very
close collaboration with the investment bank locally, targeting
family offices, ultra high net worth individuals, and some qausi-corporate
or institutional clients."
The bank said it was too early to disclose hiring plans.
Barclays, which does not separately report revenues or profits
for private banking, maintains hubs for managing wealth in
Europe in Monaco, Switzerland, and Ireland.
It will grow activities in new European markets via its European
Union-licensed platform in Dublin, Mathieu said, working
together with local corporate and investment banking teams.
Previously Barclays' country head for Switzerland, Mathieu said
the bank had seen an inflow of clients into Switzerland as the
market gained appeal amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both the Swiss and broader European private banking business
were seeing growth in managed assets, he said. But the COVID-19
pandemic and negative interest rates presented particular
challenges to the business and industry as a whole.
"The industry is facing global margin compression and very
aggressive pricing competition," he said. "The private banking
business across Europe is profitable, but we have to anticipate
and adapt our business model to the challenges of these times."
(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Michael
Shields)
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