Private banking: the myth and the reality

These days nearly every financial institution offers some kind of private banking service. But with most, the result is high charges and poor advice, says Merryn Somerset-Webb.

There is apparently a "great private banking myth" out there. According to a press release put out by private bank Cater Allen, "one in four people would switch to private banking if they had the money" but most of them also think that they don't have the money: on average they think you need to have around £450,000 to make the switch.

I suspect that this will come as news to anyone with an income over around £70,000. These days pretty much every financial institution out there offers some kind of private banking service and they certainly aren't shy about offering it to members of the mass affluent: if you're a target household you'll be as used to getting offers to join one exclusive' banking service or the other as you are to getting pre-approved' credit card offers.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.