Study: Private Banks Looking for Consumer Foothold

As private banks and trust companies try to increase their stakes in the investment marketplace, they are building their own platforms, and increasingly those platforms are open architecture, according to a study released by Prudential Financial. The report, prepared by 3C Financial Partners, includes data from 65 private bank and trust companies and offers a nine-step best-practice perspective of how to break into the investment marketplace. Of those banks, 9% said they were researching various platforms to buy, and 38% said they were already renting platforms. Another 17% said they were building platforms of their own, while 35% said they planned to make no changes.The most common type of platforms is an open-architecture-style smorgasbord of investment options. “There is no doubt that banks recognize the need for more flexible, objective and competitive investment offerings to their clients,” said Kevin Osborn, vice president at Prudential Investments.

“We believe this report will help banks migrate to a platform that offers the potential to improve business results through growth with both new and existing clients.”