Business owners or high-level executives often are so busy keeping their
business in the black that keeping track of their personal financial business
can often be pushed to the wayside. To
keep personal day-to-day finances on
track, it is often necessary to get the help of
private banking services.
“Private banking services — also called
private client services — is personalized
attention for those who have acquired substantial financial resources and need assistance in managing these resources as it
relates to their full financial picture,” said
Camille Ussery, vice president of Private
Client Services at Plano-based ViewPoint
Bank.
Smart Business spoke with Ussery about
the benefits of having a private banker.
What is the difference between private banking and traditional banking?
A private or personal banker is someone
who is looking out for a family’s day-to-day
finances as well as your investments. As
the level of a family’s wealth increases,
managing that wealth can become very
complex, and inattention to the day-to-day
details is quite common. Having a private
banker gives the family one person to contact if, for example, a checkbook is lost or
stolen. It also is a kind of banking
‘concierge’ service that gives the client a
heads up if an account is dangerously close
to being overdrawn.
All kinds of banking services can be conducted through a private banker. This is
advantageous over cold calling a branch to
try and get a banking issue resolved. The
reason for having a private banker is to
take away the worry of day-to-day
finances.
What are the typical problems that a private
banker can solve?
When you say ‘private client services,’
most people think of investments or insurance products. But that is only one component. Outside of investment strategy or
ensuring funds are performing at optimal
level, there are a multitude of banking
issues that can be resolved using a private banker, such as a lost checkbook or check
card, ordering checks, and resolving any
notices that have been received in the mail.
This is really like having a personal assistant to resolve these issues. The client simply picks up the phone and transfers the
responsibility to the private banker to
resolve the issue. It is a huge time-saver.
The private banker is usually available by
phone during business hours, and a hotline
number is typically assigned, as well. The
client often has the cell phone and e-mail of
the private client banker who can help
resolve issues in the off-hours or on the
weekend.
There are often other advantages to
belonging to a bank’s roster of private
clients, including good rates on deposits
and credit. Banks often host several events
annually for private clients — which can be
ideal for business networking.
How can an executive go about finding the
best private client banker?
There are three critical questions to ask
first:
1. Does your bank have this service?
Check to see if the financial institution
offers this full service. Perhaps the bank has already reached out to these clients,
but the client has been too busy to
respond. Pay attention to these offerings
for private client services because of the
advantages it could offer you and your family.
2. Is the personal banker accessible? Are
there hotlines to reach a specialist if you
can’t immediately get a hold of your personal banker? Are they attainable by e-mail? Cell phone? A good personal banker
needs multiple touch points.
3. What type of services do they offer?
What additional benefits can you receive
by consolidating your assets at the bank?
Can you get increased earnings on
deposits, better loan rates? Can you get
online banking services, discounts on traveler’s checks and money orders? What
about expedited loan transactions?
What are the downsides to not having a personal banker?
Well, when a crisis does happen, it helps
to have developed a relationship with your
personal banker to lessen the impact. For
example, if you are traveling overseas and
suddenly your debit card stops working,
how can you access your funds? Without a
personal banker, you might have to call a
branch back home and be put on hold
while someone figures out the problem. If
you had a personal banker, you could call
the hotline or e-mail the banker or call his
or her cell phone and have the banker
resolve the problem and get back in touch
with you.
Visit viewpointbank.com/business to
learn more about ViewPoint Bank’s
Private Client Services.
CAMILLE USSERY is the vice president of private client services at Plano-based ViewPoint Bank. Reach her at (972) 509-2020
ext. 7305 or [email protected].