In a May 2009 survey of 20 European Private Banks, the private bank that I have been recommending to my international, non-US clients for many years was just ranked #1.

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This private European bank has 34,000 employees in 1,400 branch offices, around ten million customers and total assets of over 487 billion Euros.

Saying that: “This leading XXXXXXXXXX bank is a somewhat surprising winner because it was not a well-known brand name as a wealth manager in private banking. However, this bank shows good performance across all our evaluation categories.

We were impressed by the professional handling of the customer interaction, the comprehensive inquiry using a questionnaire and a proposal that showed how the bank really understood the preferences of our test client. We also liked the use of ETFs and the avoidance of high hidden cost. ”

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The biggest weaknesses with the European private banks uncovered by the report were:

  1. Many Private Banks do not listen to the client: Hard to believe, but about one-fourth of all advisers visited would rather listen to themselves speak than to their potential clients. No questions were asked at all.
  2. Pro-cyclical asset allocation: When the survey was conducted the market had almost bottomed out, and more than half of the banks recommended an extremely bearish strategy. In six cases the portion of stocks in the portfolio was 20% or lower, despite the test client indicating a long-term outlook and medium high-risk tolerance.
  3. Deceptive cost structures: About one third of the banks offered quite low flat fees but had significant hidden costs in their investment proposal.
  4. Mediocre Funds instead of ETFs: The majority of funds we analyzed in the suggested portfolios could be easily replaces by ETFs, cutting the yearly costs by about one percentage point a year.

Important Warning:

There are no European private banks that we know of that will do business with US citizens so I’m sorry, this report is available only to NON-US citizens.

To Get Your Copy Of This Free Report Naming The #1 European Private Bank.

If you are a NON-US investor and a NON-Canadian RESIDENT (Canadians legally resident outside of Canada are OK) with a minimum of US$250,000 to invest and would like a copy of this Survey of European Private Banks, please complete the simple form below:

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Written by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore and the Director of Costa Rica Living & Retirement – Secrets To Happiness, a new DVD which reveals all with 14 in depth interviews.

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