Tailored treatment for emerging affluent

A new category of customers, the "emerging affluent" are being targeted by some banks through personal financial planning services.

According to AIB and Bank of Ireland, which began developing these services more than two years ago, these are clients that do not make the cut off for private banking services but have a substantial amount of money to invest.

Both banks are growing these services to keep up with demand from customers who typically have a household income of £100,000 (#126,974) for Bank of Ireland and £75,000 for AIB. This figure excludes the value of their homes.

Mr Peter Collins, head of Bank of Ireland's Priority Client service says customers are usually in their late 30s or early 40s, professional and newly wealthy.

Many of these clients are young IT and telecoms professionals with share options in their company.

"Much of their wealth is illiquid so we try to help them make it liquid and diversify the investment," says Mr Collins.

They are often cash rich but time poor and in need of financial advice, he says. Eventually, as they build wealth these clients may be considered private banking clients.

For now, each priority client is assigned a financial planner who provides long-term advice.

"We offer clients a financial planner who will sit down and find out their requirements. This forces the client to articulate their own personal objectives and we give them a plan based on these aims."

Bank of Ireland's financial planners (FPs) usually have five to 10 years of experience in either accounting, banking or investment and are in their 30s. They receive a six week in-house training course, followed by an exam and then a few industry exams, says Mr Collins.

The planners are backed up by a team of specialists in tax, legal, retirement, and estate planning.

Priority client services charges an upfront fee of £350 for a financial plan. Products are available from the bank and from other companies. "As the customer implements the plan, we hope to do that business with them but we don't insist that they do," says Mr Collins.

He insists that FPs will only recommend a bank product when it is the right one for the client.

Judging by US figures, the financial planning business is expected to grow by at least 15 per cent a year says Mr Collins. Although the service has 40 staff, recruitment is the only thing slowing down further development.

"There is a huge demand for this service but we need to find the right people to hire and train," he says. The service is currently available through business units in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.

AIB's approach is a little different. It does not charge for the advice service but only sells its own products. Mr Brian Nevin, senior manager at AIB says: "We believe our product range is competitive with the best of them. Within the bank we also have funds management, trust services, and a stockbroking arm."

The company hopes to provide clients with a one-stop shop for their financial needs and believes this will lead to further development of its products.

"This isn't a product sales approach, we're working out a plan with the individual," he says.

AIB's service is branch-based with 18 advisers located in business units on a national basis. It hopes to increase this number to 30 by the end of the year.

The advisers are from similar backgrounds and age profiles as Bank of Ireland's but training is longer. They are trained in-house for three to four months and then mentored by more seasoned advisers. "The focus is advice driven. They are doing a lot of listening front-end before any proposals emerge or a plan is drawn up," says Mr Nevin.

Although the income level criteria of £75,000 is lower than Bank of Ireland's, AIB clients should have investable assets over £200,000.

The customer profile is also very similar to Bank of Ireland's.

Mr Nevin believes the demographics of personal banking clients has changed because Irish graduates are now staying here or returning from abroad. "Each year between 45,000 and 50,000 people are coming home who had emigrated in the 1980s. They are bringing back skills and capital," he says.

Mr Nevin says the bank's financial advisers are not trying to replace traditional sources of advice. "Our people are skilled enough to say there's a tax aspect here and then we will refer them on to an accountant. We'll identify it and say there's an opportunity here but it's up to them to take it further," he says.