Women make headway in private banks' male world

GENEVA (Reuters) - The high-powered world of looking after money for the ultra-rich remains dominated by men, but women are playing an increasingly bigger role, both as bankers and clients.

The vast majority of private banks' clients remains male, but female customers are becoming more actively involved in investment decisions at family level, private bankers told Reuters Wealth Management Summits in Geneva and Boston.

"It's still more male than female, more patriarchs than matriarchs but that has certainly changed," said Reinhard Krafft, head of private banking at Sal Oppenheim jr. & Cie.

"If we service a family, you not only have a patriarch, you have the mother, daughter, son at the table. Whom are you talking to? Whole families."

Mark Cunningham, managing director of private banking at Bank of Ireland (BKIR.I)(BKIR.L), said less than 10 percent of the private bank's clients were female.

But such figures can be misleading as family accounts may not reflect the involvement of other family members.

As men get older we see more couple decisions and family decisions, Cunningham said.

Rich women, often widows or heirs, are seen as taking a larger role, but their involvement varies across countries.

"In places like South-East Asia or Latin America many decisions are still made by men," said Maximilian Martin, global head of philanthropy services for Swiss bank UBS (UBSN.VX).

FEMALE TOUCH

Although the majority of clients are middle-aged and male, wealth managers do not notice a reluctance in dealing with female bankers, whose numbers are increasing to reflect the staggering growth of the industry.

Female clients tend to request female bank advisers, bankers say, but the opposite rarely happens.

"I don't think I have heard of one situation where a male client had a problem with a female adviser," Dean Junkans, chief investment officer at Wells Fargo's private client services division, told a Reuters Wealth Management Summit in Boston.

And women bankers can sometimes be more perceptive when dealing with couples. "In some cases what we find ... (that) if you have a couple a male adviser will oftentimes look to the male and have the whole discussion with the male and it could be that the female is the decision maker around this area or it could be even their (her) wealth that we are talking about," Junkans said. Typically a female adviser will not make that mistake."

Despite their growing presence, estimates of the percentage of women employed by private banks are hard to find. Women appear to be playing an increasing role as relationship manager, with Bank of Ireland saying they now represent 40 percent of its workforce in this area.

But Stephanie Jarrett, a lawyer with Baker & McKenzy, says the number of female investment managers is still quite low.

However low the proportion of female private bankers may look now, the numbers are set to rise as women appear to be gaining ground against men in the private banks' fight to attract the best talent.

"I'm being more active in putting women into advisory positions and investment positions. Women say 'We had to try harder' and it shows. They are very good," said Krafft.

(with additional reporting from the Reuters Wealth Management Summit in Boston)