The pandemic has changed everything, including the relationship of personal bankers with their clients, writes “Business and Finance”.
“Private banking in Serbia is unknown to many. And not only for users, but also for the banks themselves. While some say that the digitalization and availability of banking services has made the need for investment advice ‘face to face’ meaningless, others claim that Serbia has its chance for private banking, which requires high costs, dropped before the great world crisis in 2008. Third, however, believe that our country does not have enough rich and influential users for these types of services,” said the magazine.
Despite this majority view, some private banking services are widely offered to clients.
What advice do users get from a private banker? To answer this question, it is necessary for the client to have a slightly higher income that he wants to invest wisely.
Many use the services of private banks in other countries for this purpose, bypassing the domestic market because it is shallow and, apart from the banking sector and real estate, does not provide many investment opportunities.
Milan Kovac, head of the private banking segment at Raiffeisen Bank, told Business and Finance that the bank has been providing private banking services in Serbia since June last year, under the special name “Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen”.
According to him, private banking is the highest level of service that the bank provides in doing business with citizens who want to use standard banking products tailored to their needs, as well as to preserve and increase their assets with appropriate advice by using investment products.
As he pointed out, the use of investment products that are tailored to the goals of clients is one of the most important aspects of private banking services.
“The underdeveloped domestic capital market is one of the reasons that real estate investments are still the most common choice of clients for investment. Our approach is to offer new investment products to private banking clients, including local investment funds managed by Raiffeisen Invest, structured products – certificates issued by Raiffeisen Centrobank, investment in bonds, etc.,” stated Kovac.
Raiffeisen Private Banking currently provides services to more than 17,000 clients in the region and has over 18 billion euros in assets under management. The private banking service within this banking group currently exists in selected markets in Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, and since last year in Serbia.
“The decision to offer this type of service to clients in Serbia is at the same time a sign of trust in the potential of the domestic market, as well as the capacity of the domestic bank to provide the appropriate level of service,” Kovac pointed out.
OTP Bank also offers a private banking service. As it is pointed out on the official website of that bank, through face-to-face meetings, clients are provided with access to specially adapted services, through the creation of various investment products in various financial markets, BiF reports.
