‘Like a conductor in an orchestra, a wealth manager can’t play all the instruments but, without them, it just doesn’t work,’ says the dynamic Charles Sanford, a director at Credit Suisse who has been with the firm for a decade. He started out as an investment banker at Barclays before moving to Paris to do an MBA, after which he joined Credit Suisse as a private banker and relationship manager.
Sanford’s specialities include energy, mining, tech, retail and real estate investment, but he is also a proud generalist, who loves the combination of client contact and technical solution-building. ‘I love that we can help clients with almost anything because of how broad our offering is,’ says the French and German speaker.
Clients have been anxious due to the political turbulence, but Sanford isn’t worried. ‘People still want to do business but they want to adopt slightly more defensive strategies which mitigate the downside risk. So there’s a bit more caution, but with interest rates so low they want to put cash to work even in uncertain times.’
When he isn’t helping HNWs ‘meet their life’s needs’, Sanford plays poker and bridge, and
last year he completed a 312 km cycle race around Mallorca with a client.