Private banks and trust companies: a broker's-eye view

Wealth management? You'll find it offered at any big brokerage firm. How does the service offered by private banks and trust companies differ from the brokerage version?

Here's a broker's eye view, from Registered Rep magazine.

Private banks offer more sophisticated service, catering to the customer rather than "pushing product."

Private banks and trust companies offer in-house expertise in trusts and estates and high-end tax advice.

“They are able to manage all aspects of trust accounts in-house, an increasingly important fact with the aging boomer population.”

And, "at the end of the day, it's also partly marketing. Private banks, quite simply, are chi-chi."

As the Registered Rep article illustrates, the battle for wealth-management business can be intramural. In this case it was Schwab vs. Schwab's U.S. Trust unit.

Anybody care to share other examples of brokers and trust new-business people duking it out to gain or keep a client?