Coutts has developed a new specialist offering that sits alongside our Family Business and Philanthropy propositions, which is designed to provide educational, networking and advisory services for the wealthy young.
The Next Generation programme will focus on four key themes of learning: financial awareness, social impact, personal development and entrepreneurship. Launching initially in the UK, it will be rolled out globally by 2012. And, as the programme grows, an advisory service will also be developed to focus on helping families ensure smooth transition of wealth from one generation to the next.
"One of the biggest concerns of our wealthiest clients is how to prepare the next generation for the responsibilities of wealth," explains Michael Morley, chief executive, Coutts & Co. "Educational opportunities are now considered to be a key driver of client acquisition and retention," he continues, "so by addressing this concern, we are creating another way to engage with our existing clients and deepen our relationships with them. Next generation clients are concerned about how people generate wealth and what they do with it once they have acquired it. ‘Who dares wins’ is evolving to ‘who cares wins’ and we, at Coutts, need to be sensitive to that evolution."
The programme includes two groups. As you would expect, there are the ‘inheritors’ who are sons and daughters of existing clients who will become criteria clients through inheritance, but just as important are the ‘wealth creators’, or the independently wealthy - people who have become financially successful at a younger age but who may not have had any link to Coutts previously.
Alexandra Carr, the head of Next Generation Services, was brought in to run the initiative in May, and has wasted no time in organising the first phase of the programme: a series of networking seminars, based in London, featuring keynote speakers from the arts, business and media.
The speaker at the first event in September was Rachel Bridge, enterprise editor of The Sunday Times and author of 'How to Make a Million before Lunch'. She spoke about ‘how to be a successful entrepreneur’. Oli Barrett, the man that Wired magazine described as ‘the most connected man in Britain’, will offer his insights on ‘building an effective network’ at the next event in December 2010.
"We are building a next generation community and are listening to them so that we can provide them with the service that they need from us. I’d like this to be seen as the ‘young millionaire’s club’," Carr explains. "Each speaker at our events is somebody who is engaging, motivating and, of course, inspirational."
Follow-up activity in 2011 will be built around workshops and more intimate gatherings where the four key themes can be explored. Carr says, "I’m keen to ensure that personal development is weaved into the learning programme as well. It’s about giving them confidence with leadership and communication skills, and the ability to influence the older and more experienced people they’ll be doing business with."
So what sets the next generation apart? Perhaps surprisingly, this digitally savvy cohort may be attracted by a more traditional approach to banking. "There is a huge opportunity to change the perception of Coutts from being traditional and old fashioned to also being contemporary. Both of these things are what interest and attract the next generation. They have been born in the digital age, so they have easy access to any information that they need. We can add value by providing face-to-face interaction that they both need and want. It would be dangerous to assume that we should be providing them with only hi-tech solutions."
Ultimately, understanding and listening to the next generation is the key to building a service that helps them to learn from us and from each other, so that we can all benefit from this exciting initiative.
If you would like to learn more about our Next Generation programme or have a client who you think could benefit from it, please speak to your Coutts contact.
