‘We probably had our strongest performance in terms of new client acquisition for the UK business than I can remember,’ announces Jeremy Knowland, who has been looking after UHNW clients at Citi for more than a decade.
Discretionary portfolios have been resilient: ‘The latest ARC data shows that on a five-year cumulative basis, we’re in the top quartile on all of our main portfolio criteria.’
Knowland mainly serves clients who have a minimum of $25 million of liquidity. James Heddle, who reports to him, holds ‘one of the biggest books in the business’, according to one peer.
Citi’s tech tools have helped in lockdown. He cites his Thursday calls with clients, which feature insights from the bank’s CIO, chief economist, and guests such as Mervyn King, Lord Hague and Larry Summers. ‘Certainly when it was very, very volatile, we made a point to over-communicate our views on the market to make sure that people felt comfortable with where they were at.’
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Knowland argues that very few, if any, institutions could offer such opportunities to global UHNWs: ‘We can link our UK clients with the US or with any jurisdiction across the world if needed. We can deliver that in a seamless way where others may struggle.’
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