The Fourteenth WealthBriefing European Awards 2026 Acclaim

ACCLAIM

RECOGNISING LEADERS AC ROSS THE GLOBAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY THROUGH THE WealthBriefing AWARDS PROGRAMME

The Fourteenth WealthBriefing European Awards 2026

Foreword

STEPHEN HARRIS CEO, WealthBriefing

I am proud to present the fourteenth edition of The European Awards Acclaim Magazine, marking another milestone in celebrating excellence across the wealth management industry.

Congratulations to this year’s category winners – organisations, teams, and individuals alike. Your achievements are a testament to your dedication, innovation, and professionalism, and they inspire your peers, colleagues, and clients across the sector.

In this edition, you will see how this year’s winners stood out against strong competition, earning the recognition of our independent and distinguished panel of judges. To be awarded a WealthBriefing accolade is a mark of true excellence, and to receive it in Europe – our flagship programme – remains a source of particular pride.

At WealthBriefing, the integrity of our awards is paramount. Every programme is underpinned by a rigorous judging process, conducted entirely and independently of commercial influence. This independence is what gives a WealthBriefing award its lasting value and ensures it is regarded as the premier recognition within our industry.

Equally, these awards reflect the richness and breadth of the wealth management ecosystem. Each ceremony is more than a celebration – it is a unique networking event, bringing together the brightest minds and most innovative organisations in the sector.

Finally, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to our commercial partners, whose support continues to be invaluable. Together, we celebrate not only success but also the professionalism, commitment, and vision that define our industry.

Here’s to another year of excellence.

Contents

Overview of the European Wealth Management Industry

Europe’s wealth sector has been buffeted by positives and negatives – tariffs, investor inflows into Europe, UK changes to taxes on HNW individuals, and tax incentives in countries such as Italy.

According to the Capgemini World Wealth Report for 2025, European markets such as France's CAC 40 ended 2024 down 2.2 per cent but Germany's DAX index rose 19 per cent. European high net worth individuals saw a modest rise in wealth in 2024. European HNW wealth rose 0.7 per cent; the population of such persons declined 2.1 per cent. With indices mostly rising in 2025, expect there to be an improvement overall.

This news service hears that in volatile times, European financial institutions’ stability and durability are plus factors. Switzerland and the UK signed an important financial services pact that took effect at the start of 2026. The European Union wants to build more integrated investment and capital markets – creating opportunities over time, although possibly causing frictions with some member states, such as Luxembourg.

Large banking groups such as BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, ABN AMRO, HSBC, Barclays, Santander and Societe Generale, among others, continue to stress benefits of robust balance sheets, resources and geographical reach.

Besides the big brands, Europe has a raft of medium-sized and boutique firms that can handle varied needs of clients. At times, they must juggle the need for scale with a human touch. Europe has also seen a fair amount of North American takeovers, with Miami-headquartered Corient buying Stonehage Fleming and Stanhope Capital in 2025, for example. Certain sectors can be “under the radar” - Germany has many single-family offices. As countries such as Italy flourish as HNW hotspots, Italy will be a country to watch.

Technology continues to spread its influence across the sector – AI is a hot area in Europe. The challenge is deploying capital profitably, particularly when cost control is an issue.

It is hard to generalise about this varied sector: Europe’s wealth and banking market remains one of the most important in the world, and endlessly varied. WEALTHBRIEFING EUROPEAN

The Judging Panel

The WealthBriefing European Awards 2026 programme was focused around three main category groupings: experts (individuals and teams), products and services for wealth managers and clients and institutions of all sizes and types in the European market.

Independence, integrity and genuine insight are the watchwords of the judging process with the judging panels made up of some of the industry’s top trusted advisors and bankers.

AUSAF ABBAS Managing Director Coombe Advisors

STEVE DYSON Director Investment & Wealth Management Consultants

MARTIN HEALE Director Schroder US Wealth Management

EVA JASIECKA Growth, Innovation & Strategic Foresight Expert PlantInn

KEITH MACDONALD Senior Advisor Wealth Management

NAWAZ MUCADAM Country Manager for the UK, Ireland & Middle East Flanks

MATTHEW DUNCAN Partner and Head of the Private Wealth Team Druces

JAMES FLEMING Various

PIERRE DUPONT Managing Partner WIZE by TeamWork

ELIZABETH HART CEO & Founder Legacy Wealth Advisors

MICHAEL HUNWICK Director - Investment & Wealth Management Deloitte

SEAN KIERNAN CEO and Founder Greengage

MARK HUSSEIN CEO

HSBC Life (UK) Head of UK Insurance HSBC Bank

ANNE LIEBGOTT Founder AW❖UNITED KINGDOM

ANTOINE MEGARBANE Director of Business Development Taranis

GLENN MURPHY Managing Director, Wealth Services State Street

MARK MILES Partner Aon

ROBERT PAUL Chief Commercial Officer W1M

The Judging Panel

A shortlist was identified from the hundreds of entries received for these awards and a discussion took place with the judges to agree the winner of each category. The judges were split into three groups, dependent on their industry; a panel of trusted advisors were responsible for judging the private banking categories; a panel of private bankers judges the trusted advisor categories; and new for this year we had a specialist group of tech experts judging the technology categories. This was to ensure that commercially sensitive information was kept confidential and conflicts of interest were avoided.

BECKY ROBBINS Chief Operating Officer Lincoln Private Investment Office

BILLY STEPHENSON Chief Executive Stephenson Executive Search

KATERYNA VIY Founding Partner Meta Octav Group

MATTHEW SPENCER Advisor

PHILIPPE STEFFEN Consultant

RICHARD THOMAS

Global Head of Private Clients Moneycorp

BRUCE WEATHERILL Chief Executive Weatherill Consulting

MIKE TOOLE Owner Director Elterwater Consulting Ltd

IAN WOODHOUSE Board Advisor and Partner

Leading International Law Firm

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Thought

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Building the Future of Digital Asset Investing: Where Collaboration and Client Needs Drive the 3iQ Managed Account Platform

The 3iQ Managed Account Platform (QMAP) is the digital asset industry’s first comprehensive hedge fund managed account platform, providing investors with access to actively managed strategies in a secure, transparent, and efficient framework.

QMAP offers access to top-tier managers selected through a rigorous, multi-month due diligence process by 3iQ’s Hedge Fund Solutions Group. It also provides mandate flexibility, enabling clients to invest in individual managers or diversified combinations through a single, streamlined subscription process.

A core differentiator is operational control and security. 3iQ retains full legal ownership of assets, while third-party managers operate under “trade-only” permissions within sub-accounts. This enables near real-time liquidity and reduces risks such as fraud, side pocketing, and investor lock-ups. The platform is supported by institutional-grade infrastructure, including leading service providers, pre-negotiated trading terms, and tri-party escrow arrangements, minimising counterparty risk and avoiding exposure of assets on exchanges.

QMAP also delivers high levels of transparency and real-time reporting. Investors benefit from daily position-level visibility and consolidated risk monitoring across spot, derivatives, and lending exposures, allowing for more effective risk management.

Commitment to client service and problem-solving

A defining example of 3iQ’s client-first approach was the onboarding of a sovereign-backed institutional investor committing significant seed capital over three years. This required an extensive and highly technical due diligence process across risk, operations, governance, and investment frameworks.

The entire team collaborated to respond thoroughly and transparently. Portfolio managers, risk specialists, and operations staff worked together to refine documentation, stress-test assumptions, and enhance reporting. This effort not only secured the mandate – an industry first – but also strengthened the firm’s institutional framework for all clients.

• Digital Assets Solution/Fund Manager Winner

Andrew Ballinger - Director of Investment Operations

Tommaso Mancuso - Global Head of Investments

3iQ

Role of collaboration in success

Collaboration has been central to QMAP’s development. 3iQ works closely with custodians, banks, prime brokers, and exchanges to design and implement tri-party and off-exchange solutions, while maintaining strong partnerships with third-party hedge fund managers.

The firm co-develops solutions such as off-exchange settlement and trading rails, improving counterparty risk management and enabling greater institutional participation. At the same time, it provides managers with flexible trading infrastructure, allowing them to operate without unnecessary constraints. This complementary approach allows managers to focus on generating alpha while 3iQ ensures operational strength.

Key challenges ahead and positioning for the future

Managers face the challenge of balancing agility with discipline in an increasingly volatile environment. Rapid shifts in market structure, liquidity, and macro conditions can quickly erode previously attractive strategies.

3iQ addresses this by allocating to managers whose strategies are designed to perform across market regimes and who demonstrate consistent risk discipline. Equally important is infrastructure. Counterparty selection, custody models, and off-exchange trading solutions are critical to resilience. As alpha becomes more competitive, operational robustness and manager quality will be key differentiators.

About 3iQ Digital Asset Management

Founded in 2012, 3iQ is a leading digital asset manager focused on institutional-grade investment solutions. The firm pioneered QMAP and launched some of the first Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded products listed on major global exchanges, while integrating staking into ETF strategies. In 2024, Monex Group acquired a majority stake in 3iQ, supporting its continued global growth and innovation in digital asset investment management. www.3iq.io

Abbove: The Two-sided Coin of Scalable Wealth Planning

Abbove describes its platform as a "two-sided coin" for financial institutions. Could you start by explaining the first face?

Absolutely. The first face represents our functional and generalist approach: delivering a holistic, collaborative and goal-oriented wealth planning experience. Our platform enables organisations of any size to scale a highly personalised, digital-first advisory journey across their entire client base. Because we operate as a technology partner, we work with Tier 1 private banks (such as BNP Paribas Fortis, Deutsche bank and Quintet Private Bank) as well as top European family offices and leading accountancy firms. Furthermore, we are seeing strong demand for Family Office-style services specifically tailored to support their entrepreneur clients.

Today, our pan-European platform is trusted by 1,200 wealth advisors to guide 40,000 families and connect with 200,000 family members.

What about the second face of the coin? How does Abbove handle the complex data requirements of modern financial institutions, especially with the rise of AI?

The second face is entirely about data and giving it meaning. While AI initiatives often fail due to poor data foundations, we act as a "System of Context." Abbove aggregates and normalises fragmented data from core banking, CRMs, PMSs, client inputs… By connecting raw data to a family’s structure, ownership and related civil rules, we create a structured, continuously updated and auditable foundation. Enriched by real advisor-client conversations, this context allows AI to deliver truly intelligent, reliable and actionable insights.

• Most Innovative Fintech or Wealthtech Solution Winner

Guillaume Desclée CEO Abbove

Operating across Europe means dealing with complex, varied jurisdictions. How does Abbove structure client wealth data to remain relevant across borders?

Wealth planning information is not modeled the same way in every country. A life insurance policy, which is a crucial element of wealth planning, carries entirely different legal and tax implications in France, Luxembourg or Belgium. We resolve this by building a dynamic balance sheet that can be viewed and analysed at either the family and/or the company level. This balance sheet is continuously fed by the advisor-client relationship, fostering a deep sense of engagement. By focusing on this comprehensive balance sheet and rich data, we can power our international simulation tools and successfully expand our footprint.

For the private banks and family offices adopting your technology, what are the tangible, measurable outcomes?

We deliver measurable results across three distinct pillars:

• First, higher engagement. Our NPS stands at an exceptional 68, demonstrating how strongly our customers recommend us. This satisfaction translates internally and externally as employees are deeply engaged with the platform and institutions see an 18% increase in their own end-client satisfaction.

• Second, it drives revenue through AUM discovery. We see that 50% of the financial assets declared in Abbove are externally managed. Using wealth planning as a value proposition helps repatriate these external assets internally, directly increasing revenues.

• Finally, operational efficiency. Advisors spend less time on manual data input and more time on high-value, relationshipbuilding tasks. This scalability means an institution can serve ten times more clients without increasing their headcount.

Mark te Riele on Delivering Superior Wealth Products

What role has collaboration - either internally or with external partners - played in your success?

Collaboration is essential to achieving meaningful results and has been a key driver of our success. True impact does not happen in isolation but by bringing together diverse skills, perspectives and experiences across the organisation and outside. This is reflected in recognition such as our WealthBriefing Awards in structured products and private equity, outcomes of strong collective effort. In Thematic Structured Products we pair internal analysts and business colleagues to translate macro trends and client demand into investable themes, then work closely with issuing partners to co-create and refine the offering.

This collaboration from internal ideation to external execution enables us to deliver thematic structured products that are well timed, precisely structured, and competitively priced. In Private Equity the impact of collaboration is especially visible in the rollout to clients. We prepare marketing materials and equip advisers. We organise presentations and webinars in all countries and continue these after launch to keep clients and advisers informed on portfolio developments and achieved returns. Whether internally or with external partners, collaboration is what allows us to turn complex challenges into collective success. It is one of our strongest assets.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

One of the most transformative forces ahead is the rise of AI, which will reshape the industry in how we operate and in the services clients will expect. I see this not as a challenge but as an opportunity to elevate the client experience, strengthen our advisory capabilities and streamline our processes. At the same time, client expectations are evolving rapidly. Clients increasingly want seamless, personalised and digital-first interactions. Meeting these expectations requires continuous innovation and operational excellence, and our skilled teams are already driving the transformation needed to stay ahead.

Regulation will also remain both a challenge and a catalyst. The landscape is becoming more complex, with rising expectations around transparency, data protection and operational resilience. This demands sustained investment and adaptability, but it also strengthens trust. By embedding strong governance and using technology to enhance compliance, we can navigate change confidently and continue to build a robust, trusted wealth management proposition for our clients.

What does winning these awards mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

We are incredibly honoured to receive three awards. They reflect the dedication and effort of every colleague involved and demonstrate to clients the kind of bank we strive to be. More importantly, this recognition validates our commitment to offering truly superior Wealth Products to our clients. It reinforces that we are on the right path and motivates us to push even further. Awards like these serve as both a celebration and a catalyst, a reminder of our achievements and an inspiration to continue delivering excellence with a premium touch for our clients.

Mark te Riele Global Head of Wealth Products

Management

DIFFERENT BY DESIGN

Accuro specialises in trust structures for high net worth individuals and families seeking to responsibly preserve wealth across generations.

Being privately owned and backed by patient capital, we have the freedom to create long-term sustainable value and pursue our mission with passion. The way we operate and who we partner with, can only be made possible by our independence.

Driven by Vision: Purpose-Led Fiduciary Leadership with Xavier Isaac

When Xavier Isaac led the management buyout of Accuro in 2017, it marked a clear break from conventional growth models in fiduciary services. Rejecting private equity ownership, he chose independence as the foundation for a business built around long-term stewardship rather than short-term financial imperatives. That decision has shaped Accuro’s trajectory ever since.

Today, Accuro is a privately owned trust business administering more than £19 billion in assets for nearly 700 families and structures across 97 jurisdictions. The firm provides trust, company and private office services to ultra-high-net worth families and entrepreneurs, with expertise in complex, cross-border arrangements. Under Xavier’s leadership, Accuro has grown substantially while remaining anchored to a philosophy that places care, judgment and continuity at the heart of fiduciary work.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm has introduced recently?

For Xavier, innovation has meant redesigning fiduciary structures around purpose. “I wanted sustainability embedded into the fabric of what we do, not added on later,” he explains. Under his direction, Accuro developed precedent trust deeds that actively facilitate sustainable and impact investing alongside philanthropy and intergenerational governance.

This approach has reshaped how families engage with their wealth. Fiduciary arrangements are increasingly used to express values across generations, from allocating capital to impact strategies to protecting land and natural environments for the long term. More than £1.5 billion of assets administered by Accuro now sit within sustainable mandates, driven by evolving client priorities rather than short-term trends.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

and establishing an Employee Benefit Trust to promote shared ownership and long-term thinking. Rather than relying on short-term incentives, Accuro encourages accountability, trust and professional judgment, empowering teams to take ownership and build enduring client relationships.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration has been instrumental both within Accuro and across the wider industry. Internally, teams work across offices and disciplines to address complex client needs holistically. Externally, Xavier has contributed to the evolution of fiduciary practice, including through his involvement in STEP’s Responsible Stewardship of Wealth Working Group.

“Raising standards in our industry is a collective responsibility,” he notes, reflecting a belief that sustainable progress depends on collaboration rather than competition.

What does winning these awards mean for Accuro and for you personally?

Being recognised as 'Independent Trust Team of the Year' affirms Accuro’s independent model, stewardship-led culture and collective strength, reflecting a sustained focus on long-term client outcomes.

The 'Chief Executive Officer' Award carries personal significance for Xavier, demonstrating industry validation of his unique leadership style shaped by innovation, vision and compassion, and his willingness to challenge accepted norms in order to create a fiduciary business that serves a wider purpose.

As Accuro enters its next phase following its acquisition by Opera Group Limited, these awards underscore continuity in leadership values and an unwavering commitment to client service excellence.

• Independent Trust or Fiduciar y Team

• Chief Executive Officer - Xavier Isaac

Culture has been a central focus of Xavier’s leadership. He has prioritised alignment between purpose, governance and behaviour, embedding a broader stakeholder perspective into the firm’s constitutional framework

Opera was chosen for its strong operational and cultural alignment with Accuro, ensuring independence of thought and stewardship remain central as the business evolves. In his role as Executive Director on the Opera Board, Xavier will continue to promote the leadership values for which he has been recognised, supporting responsible stewardship and long-term client outcomes across the group.

Addepar invests $150 million annually in R&D to fuel innovation and deliver exceptional value to our clients. We are the total portfolio solution trusted by hundreds of thousands of users who manage and advise on nearly $9 trillion in assets on the platform.

How Addepar is Advancing AI for Complex Investment Portfolios

Karel Tant Head of EMEA Go-to-Market Addepar

Where do you draw inspiration for innovation – within the wealth industry or beyond it?

Our greatest source of inspiration is our clients.

Addepar serves more than 1,400 firms across 60 countries, collectively managing $9 trillion on our platform – over 40% of which is allocated to alternatives. The scale and sophistication of those portfolios inform how we continue to lead the industry forward.

Our clients rely on Addepar’s trusted, unified data foundation to transform portfolio, market and client data into a total portfolio view. They are navigating increasingly complex structures, asset classes and jurisdictions, and they expect technology that not only keeps pace, but anticipates what comes next.

We listen closely to how they operate and where friction exists. Our innovation is grounded in solving real challenges for the world’s leading firms, enabling faster, more informed decisions, greater operational efficiency, and better outcomes for the clients they serve.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

The next five years will be defined by how firms respond to rising expectations –particularly as they adopt AI.

Client demands continue to increase, and firms must do more with increasingly complex financial data. While AI is broadly mature enough to deliver meaningful value, in financial services, the margin for error is essentially zero.

The challenge is not access to AI models; it is trust, integration and impact. In a highly regulated environment, generic tools struggle with financial data complexity, governance requirements and real portfolio context across public and private assets.

In this industry, intelligence must be permission-aware, transparent and grounded in real portfolio data. From day one, Addepar has invested in building a unified, governed data platform – proven by serving sophisticated firms globally for more

than 15 years. That long-term foundation enables us to help clients adopt AI with confidence, embedding intelligence into the daily workflows they rely on.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

Our most transformative innovation is Addison, Addepar’s native AI experience.

Addison is built directly into the Addepar platform, enabling advisers to interact with their book of business more intuitively. It understands portfolio structure, asset-class complexity including alternatives, and firm-specific entitlements.

As a result, advisers can use natural language to analyse performance drivers, exposures and liquidity in minutes. Every response is portfolio-aware, traceable and tied directly to underlying data.

Importantly, Addison amplifies human judgement rather than replacing it. It accelerates analysis and surfaces insights, helping firms move more quickly from question to decision while maintaining accountability.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

EMEA is a strategically important and expanding market for Addepar. With offices in London, Edinburgh, Geneva and Dubai, and nearly 250 employees across Europe and the Middle East, we have built a strong and established presence supporting firms operating in complex regulatory and cross-border environments.

Winning this award is meaningful recognition of the momentum we are driving across the region. Demand continues to accelerate as firms modernise their operating models, replacing legacy systems and manual processes with unified platforms designed for global, multi-asset portfolios and AI-driven insight.

It underscores the trust our clients place in us and reinforces our focus on equipping them with the tools and intelligence to operate at scale in complex global markets.

All your investments. One picture. Zero spreadsheets. Get tomorrow’s technology for today’s wealth with a next-gen family office platform built on open, AI-native architecture.

+$100Bn on our platform

+15 years of wealth reporting +100 bank integrations

Aleta: Software for Forward-Thinking Family Offices

Aleta is a next-generation family office platform built for forward-thinking single and multi-family offices. We bring public, private, and alternative assets into one intuitive interface, giving families and teams a clear, consolidated view of their wealth.

We’re designed to handle complex, multi-entity structures, enabling teams to operate efficiently from a trusted data foundation. Today, we monitor over $100 billion in assets and process more than one million transactions annually, helping clients reduce manual work and report with confidence.

Aleta is SOC 2 certified and built with enterprise-grade security, because trust and data integrity are fundamental to family offices.

What makes Aleta different from other platforms?

Aleta is built as a holistic wealth platform. We unify all assets into a single, coherent view that allows offices to operate with full transparency and control.

What truly sets Aleta apart is its open, AI-native architecture. While most platforms remain closed, Aleta is designed as an extensible data and intelligence layer. We offer a suite of Aleta Intelligence tools, including AI-powered document ingestion, which seamlessly extracts and structures data. Through our API and MCP layer, clients can connect their own AI agents, analytics tools, or BI platforms for intelligent orchestration and automation.

Family offices don’t just use Aleta. They build on it.

What are some client favorites when it comes to features?

For many, it starts with the overview: a highly accurate, fully consolidated view of wealth presented in a clean, modern interface. Always accessible, up to date, and available across web and our award-winning mobile app, ensuring a seamless experience for professionals and families.

Anders Viskum CEO Nordics & Co-founder Aleta

• Consolidated Reporting

Beyond Aleta’s built-in dashboards, power users highly value the ability to work with their data through integrations, advanced analytics, and live connections to BI tools via Aleta’s Data Cube. This allows teams to easily build highly customised reports, workflows, and analyses.

This combination of simplicity for everyday users and full freedom for power users consistently sets Aleta apart.

Where do you find inspiration when developing new capabilities?

A significant part of our inspiration comes from our clients. We work closely with them and often co-develop solutions around complex edge cases that legacy platforms can’t handle. Many of Aleta’s most advanced capabilities have emerged from solving real-world problems at the frontier of how family offices operate.

At the same time, we actively look beyond the wealth space to industries setting the standard for data platforms, AI, and user experience.

What challenges do you see shaping the future of family offices and wealth tech?

A defining challenge will be adopting AI in a way that is useful and safe. Most offices believe AI can accelerate reporting, surface deeper insights, and automate routine work, but many aren’t ready. Their data is fragmented and inconsistently structured, making reliable AI difficult to deploy.

Also, expectations of software vendors will continue to rise. Family offices will demand partners who support onboarding, integration, data governance, and long-term scalability in a high-trust, high-service environment.

If you want a quick demo of Aleta, ping me at anders@aleta.io You can also explore the platform on aleta.io or follow Aleta on LinkedIn

A modern, highly secure SaaS platform, 100% developed and hosted in Switzerland . families world wide to control their wealth across all custodians, asset classes, jurisdictions and generations.

Altoo: Turning Complex Wealth into Intelligent, Actionable Insight

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

We serve wealthy individuals, families and family offices managing complex, multi-bank and multi-asset portfolios. Altoo was built to bring clarity through the Altoo Wealth Platform, a secure digital solution that consolidates bankable and non-bankable assets into a single, independent view of total wealth.

Our most impactful 2025 innovation was shifting from aggregation to intelligence. We introduced risk-adjusted analytics, FX-aware performance views and automated fee detection. Clients spend less time validating data and gain greater confidence in decision-making. Internally, automation reduces reporting friction, enabling teams to focus on higher-value work.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

Our culture starts with a clear purpose: “Simplicity for complex wealth.” It shapes both our platform and how teams work. We encourage simplifying complexity rather than accepting it. Ownership is equally important – when teams see their direct impact on clients, excellence becomes a matter of professional pride rather than pressure.

Can you share a story that best illustrates your team’s commitment to client service or problem solving?

A strong example is the introduction of automated monitoring and alerts across fees, income and portfolio changes. In multi-custodian setups, identifying discrepancies was time-consuming. Automation now surfaces issues as they arise. Earlier innovations, such as dividend forecasting, also improved visibility on cash flows and liquidity planning.

What role has collaboration – either internally or with external partners – played in your success?

Collaboration underpins our approach. Internally, development,

Ian Keates COO/CFO & Deputy CEO Altoo AG

• Innovative Client Solution

client and sales teams work closely to ensure solutions reflect real client workflows. Externally, clients are key partners – many 2025 enhancements, particularly in monitoring and fee transparency, were shaped directly through client dialogue.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

Three trends will shape the industry: rising asset complexity, generational shifts in expectations, and increasing demand for transparency. As portfolios become more global and multi-entity, unified platforms will replace fragmented tools. Altoo addresses this through a single independent platform supported by scalable infrastructure, clean data and intelligent automation.

How do you identify and develop future leaders within your organisation?

Future leaders demonstrate ownership and perspective. We prioritise individuals who think beyond execution to client impact. Development comes through responsibility – leading initiatives, cross-team collaboration and direct client engagement – building judgement and accountability.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

This award validates our commitment to purposeful innovation. It recognises our efforts to simplify complex wealth and motivates us to continue raising standards and refining the platform.

Where do you draw inspiration for innovation – within the wealth industry or beyond it?

We increasingly look beyond wealth management, particularly to advances in artificial intelligence and decision-support technologies. Our focus is translating these into practical tools that enhance clarity, strengthen oversight and help clients move from simply seeing their wealth to truly understanding it.

Arbion Recognised for Innovation: Delivering Client-Centric Solutions and Driving Growth

We are delighted to have won the 'Most Innovative Thematic Proposition' award and to see our firm’s efforts recognised by our distinguished peers in a highly competitive industry with an abundance of talent. We are proud of our team’s collective effort and hope that this award serves to highlight our growth and breadth of our client offering.

Since our founding in 2022, Arbion strives to be one of the leading boutique investment management firms in Europe.

We are committed to delivering both outstanding long-term investment performance and an excellent customer experience. Therefore, whatever we undertake, the focus must be on delivering the best possible outcome for our clients. This focus on excellence it is the only way to earn trust and build enduring partnerships.

Certainly, this partnership with our clients has been mutually beneficial. Our OCIO offering evolved out of an existing’s client request in 2024. Prior to this, we had been undertaking similar activities for a handful of other clients for a long time, albeit it was treated as an ancillary to investment management, rather than as a standalone service.

Our client was having difficulty with an existing investment, and we were asked to, effectively, trouble-shoot. Our client is a highly experienced investor and had been personally overseeing all investments, but the time required for the sheer quantity of private investments was steadily increasing. This was far from ideal given the client’s responsibility for several large operating companies.

After a time, it became clear that there was a desire for support and clear oversight of all assets. This was the catalyst that led to a formalisation of the OCIO offering due to the scale and scope of work to be undertaken. This service has resonated with a number of both existing and new clients; hence why this segment has grown from zero to fourteen percent of our firm’s revenues in two years. Arbion’s collaboration is not just limited to clients. Indeed, we have embarked in a partnership with another firm to provide private capital solutions for investors. We will continue investing in innovative solutions and expanding Arbion’s product and service offering in the years to come.

We may be a boutique firm currently, but we are growing. Many of our team have been working together for over ten years and we enjoy celebrating each other’s success, and the challenge will be to retain this collegial, albeit driven, environment as we become larger. We wholeheartedly believe in supporting the newer members to the firm and do what we can to support growth and success of their careers.

Over the next five years, our industry will not be immune to technological change. We believe that the rapid pace of change isn’t fully appreciated by the industry. From our point of view, AI can potentially bring huge benefits to the overall client experience where embraced, and a huge challenge to those who fail to adapt. The firm is exploring ways that we can integrate this with our offerings in the coming years.

Relationship-led

Arbuthnot Latham: Relationship - Led Innovation That Puts Clients First

Arbuthnot Latham is a UK-based private and commercial bank with a heritage dating back to 1833. We are built on the belief that banking should be personal, considered, and centred around long-term relationships.

We take the time to understand your goals, values, and ambitions, providing clear, strategic guidance to help you grow, protect, and manage your wealth. Our clients value the combination of deep expertise, attentive service and a genuinely human approach that has defined our business for generations.

Where do you draw inspiration for innovation - within the wealth industry or beyond it?

At Arbuthnot Latham, we draw inspiration first and foremost from our clients – their ambitions, pressures, and the complexity of their financial lives. Our innovation starts with listening and relationship driven insight.

We also look beyond the wealth industry to understand the wider forces shaping our clients’ worlds – economic shifts, geopolitical change, and the service standards set by industries known for exceptional client experience.

Our evolving US proposition is a good example. By understanding the unique challenges faced by US linked individuals in the UK, and combining that insight with our wealth management expertise, we are creating solutions that are genuinely valued and differentiated.

Ultimately, our inspiration comes from a simple principle: finding new and better ways to make our clients’ financial lives easier and more prosperous.

Kevin Barrett Managing Director Head of Private and Commercial Banking Arbuthnot Latham

• UK Private Bank - Overall

• UK Private Bank - Client Service

Can you share a story that best illustrates your team’s commitment to client service or problem-solving?

A recent experience with a new client – an entrepreneur living in North Yorkshire – captures our team’s commitment to truly personal, relationship-led service. After years of declining service from their high street bank the client and his family office sought a more proactive partner. They came to Arbuthnot Latham for our expertise and reputation for genuine relationship banking.

As relationship bankers, we go where our clients are. So naturally, the private banker travelled from London to meet the client at his home in North Yorkshire – a gesture that surprised and delighted him, especially given his previous bank’s reluctance to travel the few short miles to his home.

The meeting centred not just on banking, but shared values, family legacy, and long-term partnership. This level of personal attention built immediate trust, leading the clients to onboard significant funds and consider moving their business banking to us.

The story reflects what sets us apart: we listen, we show up, and we build relationships that last.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

Winning two Private Banking awards is a powerful endorsement of our relationship-led approach and the dedication of our people. It reflects the trust our clients place in us and validates our commitment to delivering personal, proactive, and highly tailored support.

This recognition strengthens our resolve to keep raising the bar – continuing to invest in our people, deepen our expertise and enhance the client experience. We will use this achievement to inspire our teams, attract new talent and reinforce to clients that Arbuthnot Latham is a partner they can rely on for the long term.

Planning-Led Growth with Long-Term Backing

Artorius is an independent wealth management firm with £1.8 billion in assets under management, specialising in High-NetWorth and Ultra-High-Net-Worth individuals, particularly complex family office clients. Our approach is planning-led and relationship-driven, combining investment management, governance, and consolidated reporting across jurisdictions and asset classes.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently?

The most transformative development this year was the completion of our migration to BNY Pershing. This was more than a custodian change; it was a structural enhancement to the way we operate. It strengthened operational resilience, improved scalability, and enhanced reporting capabilities at a time when clients demand both clarity and security.

The migration also enabled the seamless integration of Lunesdale Investment Management, adding £95 million in assets and four experienced investment managers to the firm. Growth is only meaningful if it improves client outcomes – and this platform ensures it does.

Alongside this, continued investment in our consolidated reporting gives families a single, coherent view of assets across custodians and structures. In volatile markets and amid regulatory change, clarity is a competitive advantage.

Can you share a story that illustrates your team’s commitment to client service?

We recently assumed responsibility for two generations of a family with significant cross-border complexity. Our first step was governance: introducing new trustees and tax advisers, then conducting a full review of third-party investment managers. We ran a formal selection process, analysing investment

Paddy Lewis Chief Executive Officer Artorius

Winner

• Multi Family Office between £1-3 Billion Assets

Under Management

philosophy, process discipline and risk-adjusted returns. Following interviews and approval, we oversaw a seamless asset transition and negotiated an 80% reduction in fees on certain execution-only holdings.

Beyond portfolios, we coordinated a broader restructuring across advisers to create alignment and clarity. When the process concluded, the family principal wrote: “We’re so lucky to have you.” That sentiment reflects the trust that underpins long-term success.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration defines our culture. Every member of our team is a shareholder, which fosters accountability, long-term thinking and collective ownership of outcomes.

Externally, our partnership with Söderberg & Partners marks a significant milestone. Their long-term investment provides strategic backing and international perspective while fully supporting our independence and client-centric philosophy. The alignment of values was non-negotiable. This partnership strengthens our ability to invest in technology, attract talent and pursue carefully selected acquisitions without compromising the quality of service that defines us.

What are the key challenges ahead?

The wealth management industry faces a demographic shift, increasing structural complexity and rising expectations for digital capability. Applying technology to inefficient processes is not sufficient; firms must redesign processes first, then enable them intelligently.

Our strengthened infrastructure, expanded team and long-term strategic backing position us well. We remain focused on sustainable, profitable growth – scaling thoughtfully while preserving the personalised, planning-led service that our clients trust.

ASFOS: An Innovative Model Shaping the Next Generation of Family Wealth Management

ASFOS is a newly launched Outsourced Chief Investment Office and Outsourced Family Office boutique, envisioned in 2024 and operational since 2025 in Switzerland. It is 100% owned by its Founder and provides fully independent strategic advice and implementation.

ASFOS partners with visionary principals, families, entrepreneurs and advisors to deliver customized investment, strategy and impact solutions. ASFOS empowers clients to preserve and grow their wealth with purpose by aligning their capital with their values.

What role has collaboration - either internally or with external partners - played in your success?

Collaboration has always been of utmost importance in our industry, and especially as a new entrant. When identifying and choosing partners at the start of my journey, I emphasized relationships cultivated over time, common values or warm introductions from peers, to get started confidently with the best possible foundations. Working with knowledgeable, resourceful, motivated and reliable partners is a key success factor for a new founder in an evolving market.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

Building trusted relationships and retaining personal connections between clients and advisors will be paramount, at a time when AI-enabled technology, the pressure to scale and consolidate, and an increasingly competitive environment all make human interactions even more valuable. Ultimately, humans prefer talking to humans on topics as sensitive as wealth, family or personal circumstances.

By voluntarily restricting itself to serving a small number of families and entrepreneurs, ASFOS aims to ensure it has the capacity to offer a layer-free and quasi-exclusive relationship with its clients to help them achieve their goals.

Andreas Schwyn Founder & CEO ASFOS

Winner

• Most Promising New Entrant

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

This win is a very important recognition of the validity and potential of a very lean, independent and forward-looking model that will contribute to shaping the future of wealth management. ASFOS encapsulates how the next generation of wealth management firms can be built: focused, value-driven and designed from inception around clients’ needs rather than products. The ambition is not to become a large platform, but to scale thoughtfully within a niche: a handful of high-conviction client relationships where the model can create real, multi-generational impact.

This recognition will hopefully foster inspiration and ambition for all stakeholders within the wider global wealth management community. I will be proud to promote my achievement going forward while focusing on building my company.

Where do you draw inspiration for innovation - within the wealth industry or beyond it?

In my position, I have the privilege to meet a tremendous number of exceptional individuals in various fields. All these conversations bring another dimension to my background.

I strongly believe in multidisciplinary exchange of perspectives and solving problems through different lenses. I am also engaged in the industry, participating in leading conferences and professional networks. Doing so helps me stay at the forefront of best practices while creating ground for insightful ideas and connections.

Else, I truly enjoy spending time outdoors to find inspiration. I had the vision for ASFOS while on a road trip on the other side of the world in 2024. Dalai Lama said that once a year, we shall go someplace we’ve never been before. I also keep learning continuously with one new skill per year.

Modern Banking Starts with Optimised Processes, Made Possible by Atfinity’s AI-Powered Platform

Atfinity has won the WealthBriefing Award for best onboarding solution three years in a row, celebrating a decade of innovation. The RegTech company combines AI, industry expertise, and tailored solutions to deliver not just technology, but robust compliance and operational efficiency.

Atfinity is turning 10 this year. What defines this new phase of the company?

Alexander Balzer: We’re no longer a newcomer in the market. After ten years we have gained a lot of experience. The industry knows us and we’re an established, proven partner. The next chapter is all about scaling. We’re building on strong growth in the UK while expanding further into markets such as Luxembourg and Germany, continuing to raise the bar in every aspect of our delivery and hiring great people. We’ve always believed that compliance can be both: fully robust and pragmatic. This award confirms we’re building something that lasts.

Dawid Feter: Our 10-year history shows that we have earned trust. Ten years of working with banks and solving their real problems, adapting to regulatory change and working across different regions, has allowed us to create depth. And that is what clients are looking for. They don’t want promises or features. It’s not just about software. They want partners who’ve done the work and understand their reality. And that is what we are: a strategic asset in their operating model.

How has onboarding changed in the broader transformation of banking operations?

Dawid Feter: Onboarding is no longer an isolated process. More and more banks are recognising that comprehensive lifecycle

Winner

On-Boarding

management increases their overall efficiency. It's not just about technology. Banks need to rethink and optimise their processes –and that’s where the right technology makes the difference. And the possibilities are enormous. The development of AI alone is impressive and offers great potential for compliance as well.

What matters when using AI in regulated environments?

Thorben Croisé: In compliance, decisions cannot come from a black box. AI should support humans, not replace them. At Atfinity, we use AI to help build and refine rule systems, which are then validated by compliance experts. These rules guide the process and allow AI to assist in concrete cases, such as classifying documents or highlighting exceptions. The final decision always remains with humans. This approach combines the efficiency of AI with the control, transparency, and accountability required in regulated environments.

How does Atfinity support banks beyond onboarding?

Alexander Balzer: We help clients orchestrate their entire compliance logic and actually their entire client lifecycle. We want to understand our clients in detail, know their individual challenges - and then use our technology to make their daily work easier and increase their efficiency. Our no-code platform and AI rule engine allow for consistency across all touchpoints, while still being flexible. And we integrate cleanly into existing tech stacks. For many of our clients, we’ve become the glue between systems. Atfinity is the place where complex decisions are automated, traceable, and compliant.

Dawid Feter: We’re a partner that grows with our clients. We’ll continue to invest in our platform, our people, and our presence in key markets. Complexity in banking isn’t going away. But with Atfinity, it becomes manageable for banks. That’s a promise we intend to keep.

Global finance. Local insights.

of investors are reconsidering their wealth manager.

Download the Avaloq wealth insights 2025 report to discover more key findings from investors and wealth professionals.

Avaloq Recognised for Excellence in Front Office Solutions

Please explain why your business was able to reach this award-winning level?

Avaloq offers a unified platform integrating core banking, digital banking channels and front office capabilities, with specialised client and investment management software. Our platform supports more than 170 financial institutions worldwide, with over 4 trillion Swiss francs in client assets managed with Avaloq software.

The Avaloq platform’s front office capabilities enable wealth managers to enhance efficiency, compliance and client service. Our solution automates key processes such as investment suitability checks, portfolio construction and risk analytics, while also supporting mass monitoring and rebalancing. Configurable health checks ensure portfolios stay aligned with risk tolerance, and automated regulatory checks streamline compliance. Additionally, the platform simplifies client management by offering a centralised interface for daily tasks, transactions and client data. Our lifecycle management tools further support timely onboarding and relationship management, boosting front office productivity.

Our clients benefit from our continuous investment in the platform, combined with our understanding of the wealth management sector. This year, we proudly celebrate 40 years of innovation and client success, reflecting our long-standing commitment to driving digital transformation in wealth management.

How do you intend to remain on the front foot and continue to set a high standard?

Avaloq invests 25% of annual software revenue in R&D to enhance the platform’s capabilities, ensuring our clients stay at the forefront of technology. In addition, we actively monitor regulatory changes

Suman Rao UK Managing Director Avaloq

• Overall Front Office Solution Provider

across markets and integrate updates directly into our platform, enabling our clients to stay compliant without diverting focus from their core operations.

Our open platform, extensive partner ecosystem and advanced API technology allow our clients to seamlessly roll out new services and integrate third-party applications, harmonised on a single platform with a unified data model for consistency across operations.

Furthermore, our client community benefits from shared insights and joint innovation projects, contributing to the platform’s continuous, long-term development.

Where do you see the wealth management sector going in the next five years?

We expect wealth managers to face increased competition and margin pressure, driving demand for highly efficient, standardised operations. Financial institutions will need to leverage technology to boost operational efficiency and deliver personalised client experiences.

Digitalisation will continue to gain traction in the sector, with a focus on automation, data analytics and artificial intelligence. These technologies will enable wealth managers to provide tailored advice and solutions that meet evolving client expectations at scale. Additionally, wealth managers will have to deal with increasingly complex regulatory requirements, increasing the need for integrated compliance solutions that can adapt to evolving standards.

Our platform’s flexibility and comprehensive capabilities ensure that our clients can confidently navigate these changes, maintaining a competitive edge in a competitive market.

+30 +20 +750 +200

YEARS OF EXISTANCE

CLIENTS EMPLOYEESBn (CHF) ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT

the banking & tech plateform by and for wealth managers

Industrialising Excellence: How Azqore is Redefining Back-Office Performance in Private Banking

Catherine Alran Head of Back Office Azqore

• Transaction Processing Solution Winner

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

One of Azqore’s most transformative innovations has been the industrialisation and automation of our BPO operating model, strengthened by advanced process optimisation and RPA initiatives. This evolution delivers exceptional reliability at scale: our teams process over 5 million transactions annually, including more than 1.2 million cash transfers, 2.1 million FX and treasury operations, 864,000 stock exchange transactions, and tens of thousands of masterfile updates, all while maintaining operational losses below CHF 200k across all clients – an outstanding performance in the private banking industry.

Combined with our multi jurisdictional setup and a shared platform updated every three months, our clients benefit from enhanced efficiency, a solution aligned with regulatory requirement, and a strong reduction in operational risk.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

Our culture is anchored in three fundamentals: operational excellence, risk awareness, and global coordination. With over 30 years of back office expertise and internationally aligned processes across Switzerland, Singapore and Portugal, our teams operate within a deeply structured and continuously improving control environment. Certifications such as ISAE 3402/3000, ISO 9001 and OSPAR reinforce a mindset where quality, consistency, and long term thinking are non-negotiable.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

The sector faces increasing regulatory complexity, cost pressure, rising cybersecurity risks, and the need for end to end digital efficiency. Azqore is preparing by:

• modernising its IT platform and expanding API-based architecture,

• deepening automation across all back office domains (included front to back processes)

• integrating analytics and AI to support decision making ,

• and continuously upgrading its compliance and monitoring framework.

Our objective is to offer a processing model that is resilient, scalable, and ready for upcoming regulatory waves.

How do you identify and develop future leaders within your organisation?

Future leaders emerge through their ability to manage complexity, anticipate operational risks, use new technology to improve back office process and collaborate across our global footprint. We foster talent by encouraging autonomy, investing in regulatory and operational training, and exposing teams to multi jurisdictional challenges. Expertise and initiative are strongly valued.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

This award honours the dedication of our 200+ back office specialists and validates the strength of our industrialised BPO model. It reinforces our credibility and motivates us to continue investing in innovation, automation, and service excellence to support private banks worldwide.

Where do you draw inspiration for innovation – within the wealth industry or beyond it?

Our inspiration comes from three sources: the evolving needs of our client banks, best practices from the wider financial and technology industries, and the collective expertise within the Crédit Agricole Group. By blending banking DNA with technological innovation, we design solutions truly “built by bankers for bankers.”

Building Trust at Scale: How B2PRIME Turns Regulation and Technology into Competitive Strength

At the WealthBriefing European Awards 2026, B2PRIME Group was named the overall best 'FX Solution Provider' in recognition of its delivery of institutional-grade FX liquidity and execution services to wealth management organisations and professional clients.

First of all, congratulations on winning the award. What do you believe sets B2PRIME apart in the FX solutions space today?

This recognition means a great deal to us! B2PRIME Group is a global, multi-asset liquidity provider serving institutional and professional clients across FX, crypto, commodities, and indices. Over the years, we’ve built institutional-grade trading infrastructure designed for brokers, hedge funds, and professional market participants.

Today, we operate under six licenses across multiple jurisdictions, including approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and a license under the DARE Act in The Bahamas. That multi-licensed structure is the foundation we fully utilise to scale responsibly across the globe.

For us, growth is always linked to discipline, compliance, and long-term infrastructure investment. That is why our institutional partners choose to place their trust in us.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently?

One of the most meaningful steps was expanding our institutional-grade infrastructure into the retail segment. For years, we focused exclusively on institutional clients. But we realised we had built technology strong enough to serve a broader audience without compromising standards. Through our regulated retail arm, we now provide access to Crypto Spot and Perpetual Futures for eligible clients.

Another milestone was our integration with TradingView, where B2PRIME became a Platinum Partner. We integrated our core trading platform, B2TRADER, directly into TradingView’s environment. That means clients can analyse and execute trades within one seamless workflow.

At B2PRIME, we believe that innovation efforts must always focus on making execution and customer journey smoother, safer, and more transparent.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence?

It starts with people. We make it a point to hire for mindset as much as skill: the latter can be taught, but the former is a much more nuanced fit. Our team is truly international, and that diversity gives us different perspectives when solving complex problems.

At the same time, compliance is embedded into our DNA. Operating across multiple jurisdictions forces discipline – you can’t just “copy-paste” processes and expect them to work. You need local expertise, constant communication, and very strong internal standards. That culture of accountability is a natural driver of our performance.

Finally, what does winning this award mean to your firm?

It validates the path we’ve chosen. We’ve invested heavily in licenses and infrastructure, often choosing routes that were harder to walk but held more substance and value for our clients. Recognition like this proves yet again that the industry values discipline and long-term thinking.

But awards by themselves are not our final destination. They are just a checkpoint – a benchmark to measure ourselves against and keep pushing even higher. Becoming the most trusted liquidity provider in the world and contributing to a more accessible global financial system – that’s where our vision lies.

Eugenia Mykuliak Founder & Executive Director B2PRIME Group

Driving Innovation, Excellence and Purpose in Charity Wealth Management

In a fast evolving Wealth Management landscape, innovation and excellence are essential. For our Charities team at Barclays Private Bank, innovation is about delivering better outcomes for clients while enabling our people to perform at their best.

One of the most impactful innovations we have introduced recently is the adoption of Copilot technology across both internal and external workflows. From producing accurate meeting summaries to capturing actions and next steps, Copilot has delivered significant time savings and improved consistency. This efficiency gain allows our advisers to focus on spending more time with clients and prospects. It has also proved invaluable in summarising large volumes of text and data and supporting the creation of high quality presentations, strengthening both client engagement and internal effectiveness.

High performance, however, is driven by culture as much as technology. We cultivate excellence by setting a clear long term vision and strategy, refreshing it annually to ensure it remains relevant. Securing strong sponsorship from senior leadership and key stakeholders is critical, as is maintaining a relentless focus on execution. Weekly team meetings and regular one to ones provide space to share best practice, remove obstacles and ensure we remain aligned to our strategic priorities. Direct, open and transparent leadership underpins this approach, supported by targeted training to reinforce both performance and culture.

Our commitment to client service is best illustrated through the complex challenges we help our clients solve. Whether supporting organisations with integrated investment and lending solutions, or advising globally recognised institutions, our focus is always on delivering robust, tailored outcomes that align with each organisation’s mission and long term objectives. These relationships demand deep expertise, collaboration and an unwavering focus on client needs.

Collaboration sits at the heart of our success. Internally, we work closely with our investment teams to create solutions to meet the needs of our charity clients alongside building strong partnerships with the Corporate and Business Bank, private client colleagues on Foundations and Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs), and our Business Development, Marketing and Investment Consulting teams. Externally, we collaborate with partners including lawyers and accountants, media and membership organisations such as Civil Society Media, City Wealth, WealthBriefing, CFG, ACEVO and Charity Times and crucially, our clients themselves – whose input has directly shaped the development and launch of key solutions.

Looking ahead, the next five years will bring significant challenges and opportunities, from digitisation and AI to new market entrants. We will continue to invest in talent, innovation and profile building through thought leadership, events and conferences, while evolving our investment solutions and maintaining a strong culture of learning and adaptability.

Winning this award is a proud moment for our Charity team and for Barclays Private Bank. It represents recognition from our peers of our expertise, our commitment to the charity sector and the communities we serve, and our ambition to be the best in this field. We will use this recognition as further momentum to keep raising standards and driving positive impact.

Barclays offers private and overseas banking, credit and investment solutions to its clients through Barclays Bank PLC and its subsidiary companies. Barclays Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register No.122702) and is a member of the London Stock Exchange and Aquis. Registered in England. Registered No. 1026167. Registered Office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP.

Nandu Patel Head of Charities and Asset Consultants

Driving Scalable Excellence in UHNW Investment Advisory

Valerie Genin Managing Director, Head of Investments Barclays Private Bank

As Managing Director and Head of Investments at Barclays Private Bank in Monaco, I lead a platform serving ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and institutional-like clients. Our focus is on delivering consistently excellent investment outcomes through disciplined advisory, scalable solutions, and a strong risk culture. We combine the strength of a global institution with the agility of a high-performing local team, managing c.£28bn in assets in one of Europe’s most sophisticated wealth markets.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently?

One of the most impactful shifts has been the formalisation of the Investment Advisor as the client’s CIO. Every client is now paired with a dedicated investment advisor responsible for asset allocation, portfolio construction, and ongoing risk management.

This has materially improved both client outcomes and internal efficiency. It ensures consistency in advice, increases the relevance of our interactions, and enables us to scale high-quality advisory across a complex UHNW client base. At the same time, we have embedded more structured governance through local pricing forums and tighter alignment with global investment views, allowing us to combine personalisation with institutional discipline.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

High performance starts with clarity and accountability. We set clear expectations around client outcomes, not just activity, and we measure success through both commercial performance and quality of advice.

Equally important is the culture we build. We operate in an environment where challenge is encouraged, and where partnership with control functions – compliance, legal, and risk is seen as a strength rather than a constraint. This has been a deliberate shift: moving from a reactive mindset to one of first-line ownership and precision.

Finally, we invest heavily in developing our people. Empowerment, visibility, and trust are key drivers. When individuals feel ownership of both client relationships and outcomes, performance follows naturally.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration has been a central pillar of our growth. The ability to leverage the full Barclays platform – from investment banking to capital markets – has significantly enhanced our client offering.

In practice, this means delivering solutions that go beyond traditional wealth management: structured financing, bespoke hedging strategies, or access to corporate opportunities. This “Power of One Barclays” approach allows us to operate as a truly integrated partner to our clients.

Internally, collaboration across teams has also been critical in scaling our business. Aligning bankers, investment advisors, and product specialists around a shared client strategy ensures consistency and depth in everything we deliver.

What does winning this award mean to you, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

This recognition is both an honour and a responsibility. It reflects the collective effort of a team that is deeply committed to delivering excellence for our clients.

• Leading Individual (Banker) - Valerie Genin Winner

On a personal level, it reinforces my belief that performance and culture are inseparable – that sustainable success comes from combining strong commercial delivery with integrity, collaboration, and discipline.

Looking ahead, I see this as an opportunity to continue building: developing talent, scaling our platform, and contributing more broadly to the evolution of wealth management, particularly as client expectations continue to rise in sophistication and global reach.

Institutionalising Digital Assets: How Block Asset Management is Delivering Diversified Crypto Alpha

We founded Block Asset Management (BAM) to give professional allocators institutional-grade access to digital assets via fund-of-funds solutions. We launched what we believe was the world’s first dedicated blockchain & digitalassets fund of funds in 2017, with over 8-year track record and a Luxembourg vehicle under CSSF oversight. Today our platform spans BSF (our diversified flagship) and BAF (a market-neutral subfund within BAM Digital Assets SICAV p.l.c., a Malta Notified AIF). Our governance includes an AIFM, independent depositary and top-tier auditor, and we have an on-the-ground presence across Luxembourg, Great Britain, Switzerland, Spain, UAE and Uruguay.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes?

BAF is a market-neutral, multi-manager fund of funds built to isolate alpha from crypto beta. It blends diversified, non-correlated strategies (arbitrage, relative value, yield generation), strict concentration limits by manager/exchange/custodian, and monthly liquidity. Counterparty risk is reviewed continuously and formally each month, aiming to deliver a return stream that can sit alongside fixed income and absolute-return allocations without relying on market direction.

Our next major launch is Systematic Edge: a daily traded strategy built for clients who want daily liquidity with institutional risk controls. It uses AI and machine learning within a quantitative framework to adapt exposures as market regimes change. Over the last two and a half years we have researched, trained and validated these models on real market data, and we have been running the framework continuously in our research environment over that same period. The goal is to improve risk-adjusted outcomes versus simple single-asset exposure (e.g., passive Bitcoin or Ethereum beta) by dynamically managing positioning, volatility and drawdowns. As

Winner

• Investment Product Provider

• Alternative Investment Product Provider

Manuel Ernesto De Luque Muntaner Founder & CEO - Block Asset Management

with any systematic approach, backtests are hypothetical and live results may differ.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Internally, our investment committee runs a risk-veto model –any member can halt an allocation pending deeper due diligence. Externally, our multi-manager architecture lets us partner with specialised managers globally; our role is to curate, size by risk, and monitor correlations.

What are the key challenges you foresee over the next five years, and how are you positioning the business?

(1) Tokenisation meets regulation: governance, valuations and custody resilience will matter more – our regulated structures are designed for institutional adoption.

(2) Liquidity expectations rising: investors want sophisticated exposure without locking capital; Systematic Edge is designed for daily dealing.

(3) Data-driven risk and ODD: allocators will demand better transparency; we are investing in deeper look-through and standardised reporting.

Beyond digital assets, we expect to extend our AI/ML systematic approach into commodities and FX within this year, also with daily liquidity.

What does winning this award mean to your firm?

It validates that disciplined, institutional investing in digital assets matters. We’ll use the recognition to deepen our manager network, strengthen risk resources, and keep educating wealth managers on portfolio fit.

Experience and Innovation: How BNP Paribas Wealth Management supports UHNWIs in Poland

Beata Majewska Managing Director of Wealth Management

Line and Brokerage House

BNP

Paribas Bank Polska

What is the most influential innovation your company has introduced recently, and how has it impacted client results or internal efficiency?

As a pioneer of the Private Banking segment in Poland, BNP Paribas Wealth Management effectively combines local expertise with the Group's global experience, providing us with a unique perspective on future challenges. In the face of dynamic growth in the number of HNWIs in Poland, our key response to market needs has been the implementation of a proprietary service model for ultra-high-networth (UHNW) clients. It is based on Family Office services provided by legal and tax experts, supported by Portfolio Counsellors – investment experts. Thanks to this, our clients gain not only personalised care but also access to unique solutions such as Club Deals – bespoke structured products designed to meet the specific expectations of a single client. In practice, this allows for holistic family wealth management, including professional support in establishing family foundations, which effectively builds security and safeguards the multi-generational value of assets.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

At the core of our efficiency lies the conviction that the best results are achieved where professionalism meets an authentic understanding of the individual. At BNP Paribas Wealth Management, we build a culture of excellence on the foundations of long-term relationships and expert support at every stage of wealth management. We invest in advisors who can not only analyse figures but, above all, listen to and anticipate the needs of families across multiple generations. We create an environment where the Wealth Management team works together to address every client need. Our advisors are highly specialised experts, holding EFA and EFP certifications, as well as the ESG Advisor designation from the EFPA organisation. The effectiveness of our approach is confirmed by numerous international awards, such as our third consecutive recognition from the WealthBriefing European Awards.

Can you share a story that best illustrates the team's commitment to client servicing or problem-solving?

• Wealth Management Business - Central or Eastern European Region

• Outstanding Contribution to Wealth Management Thought Leadership (Individual)

- Beata Majewska Winner

Our commitment is best illustrated by the support we offer in establishing family foundations – a process often perceived as complex. We enable clients to actively utilise one of the most comprehensive investment product and service offerings in Poland, which is available to family foundations in organisation – that is, even before they are officially registered by the court. This solution eliminates the "dead period" in capital management. Consequently, our clients can immediately pursue their succession and investment goals, confident that their assets are working from the very first moment, while we handle the administrative matters and the legal security of the transactions.

What role has collaboration – internal or external – played in your success?

For us, collaboration is more than just shared projects – it is a culture of knowledge sharing. Our success is based on skilfully merging the global standards of the BNP Paribas Group with a deep understanding of the local market. It is this internal dialogue between advisors and the investment team that allows us to view client wealth holistically. By complementing our internal competencies with the expertise of external specialists, we create a support ecosystem that is both innovative and secure. This multi-level network of collaboration allows us to effectively accompany Wealth Management clients through the most important moments of their lives.

For Generations: How Bordier UK’s Heritage Shapes its Client-First Wealth Management

Bordier UK has a long and distinguished history. How does that shape the way you look after clients today?

We know from long experience that selecting a wealth or investment manager is one of the most important decisions a private client can make, and one that can have far reaching consequences for them and their family. At Bordier, we have been managing family wealth for more than 180 years, so we know and fully appreciate the weight of responsibility upon our shoulders. Whilst this doesn’t make that decision any easier, clients can be reassured that if they decide to work with us, they will benefit from the care and attention of a family business that has remained in the same, private hands for a very long time. With no outside shareholders to influence us, we can focus all of our energy on caring for our clients. In my view, this creates a perfect alignment of interests.

Our investment directors and wealth planners have on average more than 28 years' investment and wealth planning experience, which means they have worked through several stockmarket cycles, gaining valuable insight into the way in which different asset classes behave in a wide variety of market conditions. This experience is invaluable in navigating one of the most challenging periods in modern economic history. I often remind clients that while we can’t control market sentiment, we can offer something equally valuable – the expertise and experience to guide them through periods of great uncertainty.

Our team’s long tenure and deep experience deliver the consistency and continuity that underpins so many long-lasting private client relationships. It also means we develop a deep, nuanced understanding of each client’s needs over time, with some client relationships embracing three generations of the same family. This is a testament to the quality of service and the lasting relationships our team builds – generation after generation. That’s why our Group tagline is ‘for generations’.

What do you think really sets Bordier UK apart from other wealth and investment managers?

As part of a fifth-generation family business, and one of the few private wealth and investment managers in the UK, our independence shapes every decision we make – from how we invest to how we serve our clients. We take a long term, clientfocussed approach, with a strong emphasis on generational wealth preservation and an unwavering focus on what matters most: our clients’ financial wellbeing.

We pride ourselves on delivering an outstanding client experience. Our clients value direct access to deeply experienced individuals and the confidence of knowing they’ll hear back promptly. Every call, email or message goes directly to a member of our team – not a chatbot or anonymous support system – and same-day responses are a priority, not an afterthought. We believe this is an increasingly rare occurrence, made possible by our highly capable Client Services team.

The results speak for themselves: we have received no complaints over the last 12 months, a claim very firms will be able to make. This reflects the consistently high standards our entire team upholds. We logged more than 70 instances of exceptional client and adviser service in 2025 alone – more than one a week.

Our assets under management are meanwhile at a record high, and we continue to grow our client base – the clearest sign that clients trust us not just with their wealth, but with their future life.

Ian Heap Chief Executive Officer & Investment Director

Bordier UK

Winner

• Specialist Investment Manager

with Assets Under Management over £5 Billion

• Discretionary Fund

Management (DFM) Offering

• Lifetime Achievement

- Jamie Berry

Transforming Private Bank Lending: How Brown Shipley’s Digital Platform Enhances Client Experience

Brown Shipley is part of Quintet Private Bank, a group of boutique private banks and wealth managers operating across over 33 European cities. Our core offering brings together wealth planning, investment management and lending to create bespoke wealth plans, tailored to each clients’ needs.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

Our digital Lending Platform has transformed how we deliver lending. Its success has led us to expand its scope, now embedding all lending processes onto a single system accessible to all accredited Client Advisors. The Platform enables competitive rates, eliminates paper contracts, and streamlines applications, earning strong client feedback for its speed and efficiency.

Key enhancements include richer data extraction for regulatory and commercial Management Information, development into a Quintet-wide lending pipeline with dashboards for real-time oversight, and deeper integration with G2, our core banking platform. More than 250 UK clients have already used the Platform for lending requests.

By automating routine processes and accelerating contract turnaround to within 48 hours, the Platform frees our specialists to focus on complex, specialist deals. It also standardises processes Quintet-wide, simplifies credit governance, and strengthens collaboration - ensuring a consistent, efficient, and client-centric lending experience.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

We focus on continuous improvement, innovation and high

Nish Patel

Executive Director, Head of Lending Brown Shipley, a Quintet Private Bank

• Private Bank - Best Credit Provider

performance, which is clearly demonstrated in our activities, including our Lending Platform. We aim to achieve consistent harmonisation across the business to ensure we put these solutions in front of clients quickly and efficiently. This allows us to stay competitive, as our clients don’t need to look elsewhere when they have a full suite of solutions at their disposal.

What role has collaboration - either internally or with external partners - played in your success?

We are focused on ensuring there are multiple touchpoints where our team can get together, either in person or virtually, with colleagues from across Europe to exchange ideas and create a platform to challenge the business in terms of direction and focus. These discussions focused on what our clients care about. While there was a lot of agreement, we also received varied thoughts on how we can offer more solutions and how we can further tailor them to clients’ needs. This isn’t only beneficial to clients, but ensures that what we develop future-proofs the businesses and prepares us for the growth trajectory we’re looking for. The plans include increasing our loan book and increasing collaboration across the entire business.

How do you intend to remain on the front foot and continue to set a high standard?

We will continue to strive for continuous improvement. For example, building on the lessons learned over the past year, we’ve introduced more regular reviews to assess our position and make appropriate adjustments across our product, platform, and pricing. This will enable us to gain a deeper understanding of our clients and their requirements, while allowing us to spend more time to engaging with clients, prospects, and partners.

Seeing Beyond the Deal

Chris Wildsmith Partner Deloitte

Deloitte has a market-leading investment and wealth management business operating across Europe. We provide end-to-end services throughout the M&A lifecycle helping our clients plan, prepare for and execute M&A to both manage risk and maximise value. We bring extensive experience across the investment and wealth management value chain.

We have acted on approximately 150 engagements over the last 12 months, across the investment and wealth management value chain, including some of the biggest transformation deals in the sector. This gives us extensive knowledge of different business models and benchmarks, which we use to drive real value for our clients.

How do you mark yourselves out from others?

In a market served by a number of high-quality advisers, successfully supporting deal execution is a baseline expectation. Differentiation in service delivery is achieved by having a perspective on emerging themes and combining this with planning for – and executing – value creation beyond the deal.

Our practice combines M&A specialists alongside long-term technology and operating model change management expertise.

We bring practical, proven experience helping clients identify levers of value creation and working with them to realise this.

How do you provide effective support for M&A clients?

We address emerging themes too, an example of which is our proprietary AI DD proposition that we have just launched assessing the impact of AI on the market position, operating model and profitability of target businesses.

It’s fundamental for me that our interest doesn’t stop once the deal is signed. We want to see our clients and their businesses achieve their full potential and it is in our DNA to make sure we stay with them and continue to support them through the company’s lifecycle.

What do you see as driving successful M&A?

As the sector has matured and the market has become increasingly crowded with private equity and other strategic investors, well-educated bidders seek more than simply scale or business plans driven by consolidation.

Transactions that command premium multiples are those where sellers have undertaken thoughtful exit planning and can clearly demonstrate support for growth and profit optimisation initiatives and a robust control environment.

What does the future of M&A in the sector look like?

Continued consolidation is inevitable based on the number of private equity investors in the sector, but recent scale PE-exits evidence an end game for this model, which is hugely positive. Alongside this, regulatory reforms to democratise access to investing such as Targeted Support in the UK together with AI deployment can open up different segments in the market and we expect this to drive disruption.

•

M&A Advisor

We need to provide world-class M&A capabilities that draw on the breadth and depth of broader sector experience across our firm. Beyond financial and tax due diligence, we critically assess the robustness of regulatory compliance and controls and technology platforms.

M&A is event-driven, and the resultant change from this will increase the number of transactions. Scale will be hugely important as a constant and we expect this to continue to play a key role in deal activity.

We support the full lifecycle of change from strategic solution design to implementation and delivery, working alongside our clients to deliver enhanced benefit and value to their customers. Find out more about our transformative services. www.deloitte.co.uk

Mastering Complex Change

Deloitte's Wealth Management team provides services across all aspects of Wealth Management, including Advised and D2C platform, Life and Pensions, DFM and Private Banking propositions, working with market-leading clients across the UK and EMEA.

We are proud of the breadth and depth of our capabilities, across Market Strategy, Risk and Financial Advisory, Tax, Operations, Technology (including Digital, Data and AI) and Transformation. We provide market leading business and technical implementation capabilities across the transformation lifecycle and are the only tier 1 consulting firm that offer proven end-to-end wealth platform implementation capability for clients, having successfully delivered core wealth technology change programmes for over £1bn of assets.

Our team of onshore domain experts and near / offshore delivery hubs provide a flexible and responsive resourcing model that enables programmes to scale up and down as required offering a mix that is best aligned to our client's needs, whilst providing cost efficient solutions and market leading capabilities.

How do you successfully implement complex change?

When working with our clients on complex change programmes, we provide a tailored approach, grounded in proven methods and tools, and centred around three fundamental areas. Firstly, we pride ourselves on our advisory capabilities which allow us to provide unique insights for clients as they prepare for transformational change.

Secondly, we have strong technical capabilities; our teams have experience delivering a variety of technical change across a range of in-house and leading 3rd party solutions, and we have developed tooling to accelerate and derisk complex transformation.

• Change Management Process/ Best Implementation of a Technology Solution Winner

David Chapman Partner Deloitte

Lastly our people have market-leading domain knowledge of how to deliver large programmes effectively. Through a combination of these three areas we provide market-leading support to our clients when delivering complex change.

How do you ensure progress doesn’t stagnate?

At Deloitte it is critically important to us to maintain a culture that gives our people the agency and support to innovate and push us forward as a firm. We are committed to our clients and the market and always striving to lead the way through innovation and our implementation capabilities.

We are proud to have been recognised by WealthBriefing for a second year running and see it as evidence that our performance culture is working to generate the best results for our clients. We don’t see success as an end point but as a motivator to continue pushing boundaries and ensure we remain the best possible partner for our clients.

What makes your team unique?

I think that our biggest differentiator is our people. We have a unique strength and depth of experience at Deloitte and a truly collaborative environment to ensure clients get the expertise they need. We focus on creating an environment where our teams are developing new methods and tools and always trying out new things.

Some of our most effective tools have been born out of bold ideas that challenged the status quo. This environment and approach allow us to provide unique solutions that are tailored for our clients’ needs.

Diversity & Inclusion

Inclusive Thinking, Innovative Solutions

Suky Sandhu Partner Deloitte

At Deloitte, we recognise that having a diverse and inclusive workplace is essential to our continued success, with it contributing towards better outcomes for our clients and our teams through increased innovation and improved decisionmaking.

Our commitment to diversity in the workplace remains one of our key priorities with us having implemented several measures to ensure this, including providing equal opportunities in hiring and promotions, equalised parental leave and creating culture of respect, with leaders capable of leveraging the strength of diverse teams.

We are proud of the strength of our employee resource groups, providing platforms for networking, mentorship and allyship. Through these ongoing efforts, we aim to create a truly inclusive workplace that everyone can thrive within.

Why is Diversity and Inclusion a priority for Deloitte?

It is central to who we are as a business. We want everyone to feel they can be themselves at work and I see the benefits every day of having diverse teams. Deloitte strives to ensure our people feel they belong, as we know people perform their best and have the most fun when they are in a respectful and inclusive environment.

We know we provide the best support for clients through providing a workplace culture characterised by inclusive everyday behaviours and built on a foundation of respect and an appreciation for diversity in all its forms.

Why does your approach to supporting women in wealth management make you different?

What makes us stand out is the actions we are taking towards gender diversity and implementing policies and programmes that aim to make a genuine difference in supporting high-performing women in our workplace. As an example, we run a Future Leaders Programme, providing training and mentorship for women to advance within the firm. We have also equalised our parental leave policy and have a market leading menopause policy, supporting women, including those with families, in the workplace.

In wealth management we are incredibly close to achieving 50:50 gender equality in our senior leadership team. Being able to show our commitment to diversity at all levels of the organisation sets a great example to our junior staff that we are committed to creating a more equitable future. There has been significant cultural change in the wealth industry with more women than ever seeking a career in wealth and Deloitte.

Is there still further to go?

Winner

• Women in Wealth Management (Company)

• Diversity and Inclusion in Wealth Management (Company)

Absolutely! There is always more to do. Whilst we have a great inclusive environment at Deloitte, we know that Diversity and Inclusion is something we constantly have to continue pushing. We are proud WealthBriefing have recognised our commitment to diversity in all its forms for a second year. We want to lead the market and demonstrate that diverse teams are critical to our success. We have ambitious diversity targets in place for 2030 as we aim to achieve gender balance and a workforce that represents the society we live in.

That change starts with all of us at the firm and I am proud our people are so committed to equality at Deloitte, to create a culture of inclusion where diversity is seen as a strength that drives success.

Driving Proactive Client Service Through Collaboration and Innovation

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

At Druces, we have focused on making our service more agile and responsive, supported by improvements in how we share knowledge and collaborate internally. This allows us to deliver advice more efficiently and, crucially, to anticipate client needs rather than simply respond to them. The result is a more proactive and joined-up service.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

Clarity and trust are key. We set clear expectations around quality and client service and then empower our team to take ownership of their work. That combination encourages accountability and naturally drives high performance.

Can you share a story that best illustrates your team’s commitment to client service or problem-solving?

We recently supported a client through a complex restructuring involving both personal and business assets under significant time pressure. By bringing together colleagues across different practice areas, we were able to deliver a coordinated solution that addressed legal, tax and personal considerations. The focus throughout was on reducing complexity for the client and providing certainty during a challenging period.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration has been fundamental. At Druces, we work across disciplines as a matter of course, and we maintain strong relationships with external advisers. That ability to deliver a genuinely integrated service is something clients increasingly value.

• Leading Individual (Advisor) - Matthew Duncan

Matthew Duncan Partner Head Of Private Wealth Druces LLP

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

Client expectations are evolving rapidly. There is a growing demand for faster, clearer and more commercially focused advice, alongside increasing regulatory complexity. We are investing in both our people and our systems to ensure we remain adaptable and forward-looking.

How do you identify and develop future leaders within your organisation?

We look for individuals who demonstrate initiative and strong client instincts. Development is driven by experience, so we ensure that emerging talent is given meaningful responsibility early, supported by senior colleagues.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

It is a strong endorsement of the work we are doing and the direction we are heading in as a firm. It also provides further momentum as we continue to build and evolve our offering.

Where do you draw inspiration for innovation, within the wealth industry or beyond it?

We look both within and beyond the legal sector. There is a great deal to learn from industries that prioritise client experience and adaptability, particularly in how they use technology to enhance, rather than replace, personal service.

Integrating Innovation with Personal Service to Deliver Lasting Client Outcomes

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

At Druces, our most impactful development has been the continued evolution of how we integrate technology into a fundamentally personal, partner-led service. We have enhanced our internal systems to allow for more seamless collaboration across teams, while ensuring that clients continue to receive highly tailored advice. This has improved efficiency internally and, importantly, has enabled us to deliver clearer, more timely outcomes for our clients without compromising the quality of our relationships.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

Our culture is rooted in accountability, accessibility and shared standards. Senior lawyers remain closely involved in both client matters and the development of colleagues, which ensures that excellence is not only expected but actively demonstrated. That continuity of involvement creates a strong sense of responsibility and pride in the work we deliver.

Can you share a story that best illustrates your team’s commitment to client service or problem-solving?

We recently advised a family with assets and interests spanning multiple jurisdictions, where succession planning required careful coordination across legal systems. By working closely with international advisers and maintaining a clear, unified strategy, we were able to implement a structure that protected the family’s long-term interests. The process required patience and precision, but it reflects our commitment to achieving outcomes that endure.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration is central to how we operate at Druces. Internally, we draw on expertise across private client, corporate and

Winner

• Private Client Lawyer - Paul Levy

Paul Levy Partner Private Wealth Druces LLP

property disciplines. Externally, we work closely with accountants, trustees and international counsel. This integrated approach ensures that our clients receive advice that is both technically robust and commercially aligned.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

Increasing regulatory complexity and the continued internationalisation of wealth will present significant challenges. Clients require advice that is both globally informed and locally precise. We are strengthening our cross-border capabilities and maintaining a strong network of trusted advisers to ensure we remain well positioned to guide clients through this evolving landscape.

How do you identify and develop future leaders within your organisation?

We look for individuals who demonstrate sound judgement, technical strength and a genuine commitment to client service. Development comes through exposure to high-quality work and close mentorship, ensuring that future leaders are both capable and confident.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

This recognition reflects the consistency of our approach and the trust our clients place in us. It reinforces our commitment to maintaining high standards while continuing to evolve as a firm.

Where do you draw inspiration for innovation, within the wealth industry or beyond it?

While developments within the wealth sector are important, I often look to other professional services industries for inspiration, particularly in how they balance innovation with the preservation of strong client relationships.

Driving Change Through Innovation, Collaboration and Client-Centric Thinking

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

For me, one of the most impactful developments at Druces has been the introduction of our ‘Innovation Committee’. This has led to us exploring where clients and colleagues think that we can embrace more flexible and technology-enabled ways of working. This is continuously making us more efficient, responsive and better connected, which directly benefits our clients.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

It comes down to creating an environment where people feel supported but also challenged. At Druces, there is a strong emphasis on collaboration and learning, which encourages everyone to perform at their best.

Can you share a story that best illustrates your team’s commitment to client service or problem-solving?

We regularly work with clients whose circumstances are evolving quickly, with both personal and business considerations, particularly when there is a looming deadline (such as Budget Day, or the introduction of legislation). We remain adaptable throughout, refining the approach as needed and ensuring the client feels fully supported at every stage and that we are available when they need us. Our level of responsiveness, but also quality of advice under pressure, really reflects our approach.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration has been incredibly important, particularly at an early stage in my career. Being able to work closely with colleagues, through our strong professional relationships, and across different areas, has not only improved client outcomes but has also accelerated my own development.

Rising Star Under 30 - Hollie Travers

Hollie Travers Solicitor Private Wealth Druces LLP

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

Change will be the only constant, particularly in relation to increasing regulation and client expectations. We will need to embrace the further introduction of AI assisted technology across the sector and utilise this to our advantage, whilst consistently demonstrating to clients the value added by a real lawyer. Being adaptable and maintaining strong communication with our colleagues and clients will be key, and those are areas where we are already focused.

How do you identify and develop future leaders within your organisation?

It is about recognising potential early and giving people the opportunity to take on responsibility. At Druces, there is a genuine commitment to developing people, and giving them hands on experience of complex matters from day one as a trainee. This makes a significant difference.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

It is incredibly encouraging and reflects the strength of the team, the work we do, and the support I have received. It motivates me to continue developing and contributing to the firm’s success.

Where do you draw inspiration for innovation, within the wealth industry or beyond it?

Both. There is a lot to learn from within the wealth sector, but also from other industries that are embracing new ways of working and improving how they engage with clients. I think it is very important to connect with people across all industries, to understand different approaches and challenges so that we can be inspired by different ideas.

Preserving both wealth and dreams. This is work with purpose.

Edmond de Rothschild creates and develops lasting wealth by cultivating every idea as a fertile ground. From this committed vision of wealth, and this belief in life and progress, comes harmonious growth that creates opportunities for future generations.

From Purpose to Performance: Edmond de Rothschild’s Wealth Planning in Action

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

At Edmond de Rothschild, we foster excellence through three core pillars: purpose, accountability, and empowerment. Our long-term, conviction-driven investment philosophy guides teams to create sustainable value for clients and the real economy.

Internally, we often speak about “faire du Edmond”: high standards, strong ownership and long-term thinking, combined with an uncompromising focus on client outcomes. This mindset is embedded in how we recruit, develop and evaluate our people.

Our Wealth Planning team is recognised in Europe for its technical expertise and innovative approach. With strong cohesion, complementary skills, and a balanced mix of experience and gender, we combine fresh perspectives with seasoned judgment. This synergy enables us to consistently deliver outstanding results for our clients.

How does Edmond de Rothschild serve clients with purpose and care?

At Edmond de Rothschild, our conviction is to “faire œuvre utile” which entails serving a meaningful purpose. This mindset, rooted in a centuries old corporate culture, guides the way we support our clients, especially in an environment where crises and uncertainties are becoming more frequent.

First, every client can easily access our full range of in house services – private banking, wealth planners, and other experts – and tailor their investment solutions with a high degree of flexibility. Our strategy prioritises client experience, featuring personalized guidance over time, enhanced by digital and educational tools to efficiently navigate legal and tax concepts.

Second, intuitu personae is at the heart of our model. We make sure there is always someone who truly matches the client’s personality, needs and expectations. This allows us to address not only technical questions, but also doubts, concerns and long term family projects, with empathy and continuity.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration is a differentiator for us.

At Edmond de Rothschild, our wealth planning business is organised as a network of 34 planners across 9 European countries. This network shares expertise and local knowledge, enabling us to respond quickly to complex cross-border situations and provide consistent advice to international clients.

Collaboration with other departments is central to creating client value and driving innovation. Recent projects focus on vulnerable clients, client experience and family relationships, governance, and a “luxury and disruptive” publication all designed to enhance efficiency and improve client proximity.

What key challenges do you see in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you preparing for them?

From my perspective as Group Head of Wealth Planning, the next five years will be shaped by several key challenges, and we are actively positioning our business to address them.

The regulatory and tax environment is becoming increasingly complex, particularly for internationally mobile clients. Second, we are entering an unprecedented phase of intergenerational wealth transfer, requiring earlier, structured planning and stronger family governance. Third, younger wealth profiles with different needs and expectations are emerging. Finally, the implementation of AI in wealth planning will be transformative. Optimising tailor-made support tools through our internal database and managing data ownership will be critical.

We recruit empathetic wealth planners who adapt strategies with insight, combining technology and human connection at the heart of our services.

• Private Bank - International Wealth Planning Team

• International Clients Team

• Domestic Clients Team Winner

Where your financial ambitions set the agenda.

Experience private banking that combines global expertise with distinctive client-centric service designed to turn your aspirations into reality.

We are delighted to have won “Best Private Bank International Clients Team”

Global Connectivity and a People-First Culture Driving EFG’s Growth in the UK

Christian Berchem CEO

EFG Private Bank Ltd

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How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

At EFG our people are our greatest asset. We believe a diverse organisation is better at decision-making and innovating, and it achieves higher levels of employee satisfaction and retention. The diversity of our workforce reflects the diversity of our global client base, giving us a deeper understanding of our clients’ expectations, cultural backgrounds and regional markets, and enabling us to deliver better solutions, service and advice.

Our entrepreneurial client-centric approach leverages our unique Client Relationship Officer (CRO) model.

In the UK region, EFG now has over CHF 24bn in Assets under Management (AuM). The UK is one of EFG’s five ‘core’ regions, and we have significant support from the Group head office in Switzerland to grow our assets in line with the bank’s global vision.

Growth is embedded into our culture. Net new asset growth targets remain consistent between 4 and 6 percent per annum. An active and strategic recruiting campaign has supported our growth trajectory.

What role has collaboration - either internally or with external partners- played in your success?

As we continue to strengthen our presence in the UK and globally, we aim to grow in line with the connectivity of the modern world.

Around 60% of the UK’s private bank clients are non-UK residents. Despite recent tax changes, many remain closely connected to the UK and London through family, education, business interests or property. The UK’s deep pool of financial services talent, along with its strong investor protection and legal system, continues to make it an attractive location for our clients.

Working closely with our international colleagues and EFG Asset Management, we support clients across the jurisdictions where they live, work and invest, helping them manage their wealth as a truly global private banking partner.

EFG has a strong presence in Singapore and Hong Kong, delivering tailored solutions to UHNW and HNW clients across Asia Pacific. In response to growing demand, we have launched a dedicated Asia Pacific Private Banking Desk in London and recently hired a team to cover the Sub-Saharan African market.

These initiatives strengthen the UK’s connectivity with high-growth markets and support our international growth ambitions for 2026 and beyond.

How do you identify and develop future leaders within your organisation?

EFG has had a presence in the UK for over 35 years and our entrepreneurial culture is key. The client-centric nature of the CRO role is attractive to many. Our CROs have an average tenure of 14 years, demonstrating a deep understanding of our clients – enabling us to support them, even in relation to complex requirements.

Our Next Gen CRO Programme is designed to proactively develop and nurture the next generation of CROs. The programme attracts both external talent and high-potential individuals within the bank, to develop their knowledge through mentorship, structured development, and hands-on experience – ensuring that we are well-positioned to serve our clients today and in the future.

Portfolio Management at an Inflection Point

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

European private wealth management is entering a decisive phase. Persistent margin pressure, increasing regulatory complexity, and intensifying competition for high- and ultra-high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs and UHNWIs) are fundamentally reshaping the economics of portfolio management. In this environment, technology is no longer a supporting function; it has become a critical enabler of performance, scalability, and differentiation.

One of the most immediate impacts of technology is the significant boost in wealth manager and advisor efficiency. Automation and embedded intelligence are progressively eliminating low-value, time-consuming activities such as manual rebalancing, reporting, and compliance checks. Advanced portfolio management tools now provide advisors with real-time analytics, scenario simulations, and AIassisted insights, enabling faster and more informed decision-making. As a result, advisors can refocus on high-value activities, such as complex advisory, relationship management, and strategic asset allocation, whilst increasing client coverage and productivity. Process automation and straight-through processing throughout onboarding, portfolio management, and compliance significantly lower operational costs and accelerate time-to-market for new products and services. Flexible yet robust technology architectures allow institutions to innovate whilst maintaining strong governance, thus supporting long-term transformation, rather than incremental fixes.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

Beyond efficiency gains, technology is redefining client-centric experience through deeper personalisation, which has long been central to ERI’s culture and focus. By consolidating client, portfolio, and behavioural data, wealth managers can deliver highly tailored investment strategies

and communications aligned with individual risk profiles, life events, and longterm objectives. Artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics support dynamic client profiling and proactive recommendations, reinforcing the value of advice in a competitive landscape increasingly shaped by self-investment platforms. Such personalisation plays a crucial role in retaining and expanding relationships with HNWIs and UHNWIs seeking both bespoke service and access to sophisticated asset classes.

Analytics-driven decision-making is also transforming portfolio management at scale. The shift from descriptive to predictive analytics enables continuous portfolio monitoring, forward-looking risk assessment, and enhanced performance attribution for both traditional and alternative assets. When embedded across the entire investment lifecycle, from onboarding to reporting, analytics provide consistency, transparency, and stronger governance, while reducing investment and operational risk.

What role has collaboration - either internally or with external partners - played in your success?

This market evolution is driving a clear shift toward platformification and ecosystem-based operating models. In place of fragmented point solutions, private banks and wealth managers are adopting integrated platforms that combine core capabilities with specialised functionality and managed services. Strong integration, data governance, and incremental scalability are essential to support growth, private market expansion, and continuous regulatory change.

Ultimately, an integrated technology platform delivers tangible outcomes: faster onboarding, reduced risk exposure, lower costs, improved advisor productivity, and optimised reporting for clients and regulators alike. European private wealth managers that successfully align technology, data intelligence, and ecosystem partnerships will be best positioned to compete, scale, and differentiate in an increasingly complex and demanding market.

Best In-class Reporting How Etops is Shaping the Future of WealthTech

Etops is transforming wealth and asset management across Europe with scalable SaaS solutions for private banks, wealth managers, family offices, IFAs, and asset managers. Operating in Switzerland, Germany, and the Benelux region, with expansion planned into the UK, the company delivers an AI-powered enterprise platform that simplifies complex wealth structures, automates compliance, and helps professionals focus on client relationships.

The platform suite covers Private Wealth Management, Affluent Wealth Management, and Asset Management, addressing key industry needs through advanced technology, regulatory expertise, and intelligent automation to improve efficiency and client experience across the European wealth ecosystem.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

Etops delivers value-driven solutions enhanced by intelligent features that streamline wealth and investment management, generate actionable insights, and improve workflows. Its innovation was recognized with the WealthBriefing Swiss Award for 'Innovative Use of Artificial Intelligence'

The company’s AI-powered Compliance Recorder strengthens advisory processes by providing automated call transcription, concise summaries, and real-time detection of advisory situations. By capturing compliance-relevant information automatically, the solution improves transparency, efficiency, and documentation quality.

Through continuous innovation, Etops enables clients to enhance compliance, optimise operations, and increase profitability.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

Excellence at Etops comes from close collaboration and strong connections with the people who use our products. Teams across product, engineering, design, and client-facing roles work together in user research, sharing insights to continuously improve solutions. This ensures diverse perspectives shape decisions and keeps the focus on delivering real value.

Our approach follows clear principles: understand users’ daily challenges, create value over features, prioritise quality and experience, use

data-driven decisions, and build products people enjoy. We stay connected with power users through on-site and remote discovery sessions. Achievements are celebrated internally, fostering pride, collaboration and a culture of high standards.

What role has collaboration - either internally or with external partners - played in your success?

Strong collaboration is a key driver of quality at Etops. Sharing client insights across teams helps ensure products reflect real market needs. This alignment is particularly important during client initiatives, where Client Success, Product, and Marketing coordinate closely to maintain consistency and execution quality.

The company’s structure supports this philosophy. Product and Engineering operate as distinct functions but work within a shared Product Domain, using biweekly sprint planning, daily standups, and continuous feedback from clients and stakeholders to keep solutions user-focused.

In addition, Etops partners with trusted industry specialists through its “Hyperapps” approach, integrating complementary tools such as tax and pension planning solutions while focusing on core platform strengths.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

Winning the 'Client Investment Application' Award is a strong validation of how Etops continues to lead industry innovation. Having received this recognition previously, we are proud to be honored again, reflecting our commitment to delivering solutions that create real value for clients.

Our platform is differentiated by Swiss leadership in data aggregation and normalisation, enabling real-time unified insights that are difficult to replicate. We also provide advanced private market analytics and reporting across private equity, real estate, and other illiquid asset classes. Through a fully integrated regulatory framework, our FIDLEG and MiFID II compliance capabilities automate complex requirements and embed compliance into workflows, helping clients reduce risk while improving operational efficiency. Looking ahead, we will continue strengthening client trust, international positioning, and industry leadership through strategic product innovation.

Thomas Ehret Customer Success Manager Etops Group

Winner

• Client Investment Application

Differentiation Through Collaboration: How Lombard Lending is Reinvigorating the Role of the Adviser

The future of wealth is exciting. Technology is opening access to investing and making it easier than ever to manage a portfolio and source advice. However, with innovation comes challenge, and for an adviser, that challenge is how to differentiate yourself with a holistic wealth management approach that offers more to your clients.

At Firenze, we work very closely with our partners – wealth managers, investment managers, advisers and platforms to offer Lombard lending, enabling their clients to borrow against their investment portfolios. Quadrupling the AuM we support over the last 12 months, there is an exponentially increasing appetite for this kind of lending, demonstrating a market shift away from “pay off debt and invest long term” to a more nuanced approach where managed liquidity can be used as a wealth generator rather than a portfolio disruptor.

Lombard lending is a form of secured borrowing in which, as an individual or joint borrower, clients can use their investment portfolios (GIAs, ISAs, Offshore Bonds) as collateral for a loan, without needing to sell their assets to access liquidity. This preserves longterm investment strategies and avoids the untimely crystallisation of gains or the triggering of CGT.

We are seeing more and more advisers and their clients turning to Lombard lending as a way of maximising tax allowances, supporting estate planning or as a bridging loan to buy a new property. Borrowers can open a loan facility from £65,000, much lower than has previously been offered by private banks, reducing the minimum required to access this kind of lending.

David Newman CEO Firenze

Winner

• Innovative Client Solution B2B

Collaboration is key if we are to educate and inform potential borrowers about the benefits and risks associated with Lombard lending. Not only that, but also illustrating the use cases where Lombard lending can be best utilised, forming part of a partner's more holistic value proposition.

Innovation goes both ways, and our partners frequently challenge us, providing necessary product development feedback to continuously expand our offering. A good example of this is our recent inclusion of Offshore bonds into the wrappers we lend against.

An often-overlooked tax wrapper, offshore bonds can often be limited by the “5% tax-deferred rule”, preventing access to capital beyond the 5% corridor. Working with one of our advisory firms, it became a clear use case, using the offshore bond as collateral, to access cash beyond the value of that 5% without triggering a chargeable event.

Using a Lombard facility, the partner's client was able to release funds to channel into a new investment opportunity, adding to their portfolio, without disrupting it.

This is one of many examples where we have worked with advisers to deliver a differentiated solution to their clients who needed liquidity but didn’t want to disrupt their long-term financial plans.

CEO of Firenze, David Newman, is positive about the future of wealth management, “Looking ahead, the key to the future of advice will be differentiation, fueled by collaboration with technology-led solutions that are offering clients alternatives to traditional investment (or liquidity) strategies. At Firenze, we are excited to lead that transformation.”

From Insight to Impact: Award-Winning Strategies Shaping the Future of Wealth Management

Dave Mason Chief Executive Officer Solve Partners

Solve is a specialist consultancy providing expert business advice and delivery services to Wealth and Asset Management firms. Solve was founded in 2023 by two former COOs with deep, hands-on experience of large wealth firms and backed by a team of seasoned practitioners.

With practical insight and proven execution, we bring pragmatic, perceptive thinking and trusted delivery skills, working side-by-side with our clients.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

It’s clear Wealth Management continues to be an attractive, rapidly changing industry. However, traditional business models need to change to capitalise on the low penetration of advice and opportunities offered by new technologies to drive better productivity.

Key challenges are:

• Business Growth – despite opportunities in the, as yet, unadvised population, most firms need to build a mindset for growth, as well as efficiencies to absorb it. Average annual growth in the sector is still <5%.

• Market Consolidation – in particular, integrating acquired businesses, while driving organic growth at the same time.

• Productivity – we’re still heavily dependent upon manual processes. Firms need to work better to organise and automate administration. We need to drive third party behaviour to support this (Pension providers in particular!)

often ask us to help navigate the technology and service offerings available and we build relationships with providers and practitioners to thoroughly understand what works well (or not!). We help clients understand the opportunities of AI to separate hype from reality – with use cases that actually work in practice. It’s an exciting time in Wealth Management - everything is changing, and that’s what we do well.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

We have some immensely talented practitioners working with us since we were founded. The research papers we produced in collaboration with Gilly Green from FoxRed Insight, sponsored by SEI, have been highly regarded. We have real examples where the research has helped firms be more productive and achieve better results in their M&A activities.

As part of the research into Consolidation in UK Wealth Management, we deployed AI to help us keep on top of the rapidly changing market dynamics. We now have possibly the most comprehensive database of the market, owners, transactions and AuM. This has proved an invaluable tool when discussing market trends, strategies and tactics with clients and provides insight that we bring to our C-suite roundtable meetings with Owen James.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

• Management Consultancy

• Outstanding Contribution to Wealth Management Thought Leadership (Company) Winner

With our practitioner-led experience we’re able to support firms on how best to execute their strategy and to design business models, propositions and solutions that transform outcomes. Our skilled team works with firms on successful delivery of these solutions and complex transformations with real knowledge and experience.

We invest time in building knowledge and driving thought-leadership. Our clients

Our first awards! We‘re excited to receive both 'Best Management Consultancy' and the 'Outstanding Contribution to Thought Leadership' award (the latter in collaboration with Gilly Green from FoxRed Insight) this year.

As a growing firm with ambition to be the best we’re truly delighted to have this recognition from the judges. We hope it will raise our profile further, cementing our reputation for commitment and excellence.

Designing Wealth for Those Who Value Tomorrow

Harinder Hundle Founder and Managing Partner Hundle

Can you begin by outlining what Hundle does and the clients you serve?

Hundle was founded to bring institutional-quality investing, structuring and family office thinking directly to private clients, without the compromises - independent thinking, tailored and integrated - typically not tied to any single bank or product-led platforms. The firm works with high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families, entrepreneurs and globally mobile individuals, providing integrated investment management, wealth planning and family office services under one roof.

Built initially around the needs of a sophisticated family, Hundle has deliberately evolved its offering to serve a wider group of private clients while maintaining the same discipline, governance and bespoke approach. Today, a London-based team of specialists works alongside long-standing international partners to deliver resilient, forward-looking solutions designed around each client’s total balance sheet and long-term priorities.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm has introduced recently?

One of the most meaningful developments has been the structured rollout of Hundle’s high-net-worth wealth offering. This was not about scale, but about translating the firm’s institutional and family office expertise into a format that could be delivered efficiently, without diluting service or thinking.

The result has been a significantly improved onboarding experience, allowing new clients to come on board faster than ever before, while still receiving a highly personal, high-touch service. Portfolios are more bespoke than our peers, family circumstances are fully understood, and advice is grounded in long-term foresight rather than shortterm product selection. Importantly, this evolution has allowed Hundle to diversify its client base and extend its approach to more individuals and families, helping more people in a genuinely meaningful way.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

Hundle is built around deep technical expertise, but also around ownership. Individuals are encouraged to take responsibility for their work while operating within a highly collaborative structure. The firm’s “house view” is aligned, yet debate is encouraged, original thinking is valued, and convention is challenged where it no longer serves clients.

The culture is underpinned by a clear set of values: originality, integrity, foresight and service. These are not abstract concepts, but practical principles that guide how the team invests, advises and works together. Independence and transparency are nonnegotiable, and every decision is framed by a single question: does this genuinely serve the client’s long-term interests?

What does winning industry awards mean to Hundle?

Winner

• HNW Team

• Multi Family Office up to £1 Billion Assets Under Management

• Use of Social Media

• Chief Investment Officer

- Jan Meyer

Being recognised across multiple categories, from investment and wealth management to branding and family office services, allows us to celebrate the collective effort of the entire firm. It validates the direction we are taking and reinforces our belief that client- first and firm second is critical and that thoughtful delivery matters.

Ultimately, the awards signal to the industry that Hundle is redefining how wealth is delivered, and they strengthen the sense of shared purpose across our team.

Where do you draw inspiration for innovation?

Inspiration comes from both within and beyond the wealth industry. We learn from designers, architects and engineers, disciplines that value structure, intention and longevity. We think about portfolios in much the same way: carefully designed, robustly built and created to endure.

That mindset underpins everything we do at Hundle, for those who truly value tomorrow.

Indosuez Wealth Management: A European Leader Built on Heritage, Expertise and Global Collaboration

For over 150 years, Indosuez Wealth Management has been supporting its major private clients, families, entrepreneurs, and professional investors in managing their wealth, both private and professional. The bank brings together 4,300 employees across 15 territories worldwide and manages €233 billion in client assets as of December 2025, positioning it among the European leaders in wealth management.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

Performance is a collective discipline. We operate in a trust-based profession where the quality of advice is essential. This requires a high level of technical expertise, but also the ability to work as a team, across borders and business lines.

We invest heavily in training, sharing best practices, and fostering cross-functionality. Our private bankers, wealth engineers, and all Indosuez specialists work together to offer bespoke, long-term solutions. Additionally, being part of the Crédit Agricole Group provides us with financial strength and financing capabilities.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

We are facing several major transformations. The first is regulatory: increasing complexity demands rigor and agility. The second is technological: digitalisation and artificial intelligence are transforming our tools and client expectations. Finally, sustainability and wealth transfer issues are becoming increasingly significant, especially in the context of ecological, economic, and generational transitions.

To address these, we invest in innovation and technological solutions to offer our clients greater responsiveness. We are also strengthening our expertise in private assets, sustainable finance, wealth

engineering, and advisory for strategic transactions.

Can you share a story that best illustrates your team’s commitment to client service or problem-solving?

In recent years, we have carried out several transformative acquisitions – notably Degroof Petercam in Belgium, Banque Thaler in Switzerland, and the wealth client base of BNP Paribas in Monaco. Each operation brought human, legal, and operational challenges. Integration means harmonising – often in a very short timeframe – legal structures, IT systems, and offerings, while ensuring complete continuity of service for clients.

For Degroof Petercam, or more recently for Banque Thaler, we successfully completed the integration processes within particularly short deadlines, thanks to the exceptional mobilisation of our legal, compliance, IT, and commercial teams. Clients were able to immediately benefit from the breadth of our offering. This ability to execute quickly, without compromising on quality or security, illustrates our sense of responsibility and commitment to our clients.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

Receiving the 'Overall European Private Bank' award is a major recognition for all our employees. This award acknowledges the relevance of our strategy, the quality of our model, and the trust our clients place in us.

This award is not an end in itself, but an encouragement. It enhances our visibility in Europe and internationally, while strengthening our teams’ pride in belonging. We intend to use it as a lever to continue attracting top talent, pursue our strategic investments, and assert our ambition: to be the reference bank for large families and entrepreneurs in Europe and beyond.

Jacques Prost Chief Executive Officer Indosuez Wealth Management

Driving Excellence: How Isio’s Culture, Leadership, and Values Shape the Future of Wealth Management

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

At Isio, we hold ourselves to the highest standards, guided by strong values that shape how we advise clients, operate as a business, and work as a team.

Our culture is grounded in doing the right thing, having conviction, staying curious, and being human behaviours that guide both client advice and collaboration. High performance is achieved through:

• Clear conviction and simplicity – stripping out complexity, focusing on what matters, and backing decisions with rigour.

• Collective working – leveraging diverse perspectives and collaboration across disciplines to deliver results.

• Human judgement and integrity – empowering people to take responsibility, act ethically, and use judgement over process. For us, excellence means building trust, delivering clarity, and achieving better long-term outcomes for clients, colleagues, and society.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

We believe the next five years will demand greater clarity, stronger judgement, and more human advice in an increasingly complex environment. Key challenges include:

• Rising complexity and scrutiny: Clients face growing regulatory, governance, and sustainability demands. We respond by simplifying investment structures, strengthening governance, and providing advice that decision-makers can understand and act on with confidence.

• Market uncertainty: Volatility highlights the need for resilience. We focus on strategy-led portfolios, diversification, and certainty of outcomes rather than chasing complexity or short-term performance.

• Sustainability and impact: Clients increasingly expect capital aligned with their values. Staying curious helps us develop innovative solutions as sustainable and impact investing evolves. By combining independence, institutional capability, and a human, judgement-led approach, we are well positioned to help clients navigate these challenges with confidence.

How do you identify and develop future leaders within your organisation?

We identify future leaders by those who naturally embody the Isio Attitude. While technical excellence matters, leadership is defined by integrity, curiosity, collaboration, and the ability to make complex issues clear for clients and colleagues. Our development approach focuses on:

• Nurturing people intentionally – through mentoring, sponsorship, and meaningful feedback, building leadership capability via trust and support.

• Exposure to diverse perspectives – working across disciplines and client types to strengthen judgement and adaptability.

• Creating space to be curious – encouraging challenge and innovation, reflecting our entrepreneurial culture.

At Isio, leadership is about collective success: helping others perform at their best while staying true to our values.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

Winning this award recognises how we live our values, delivering clarity, confidence, and better outcomes through independent thinking. It reflects both our technical skill and the culture that defines Isio. We will use this recognition to:

• Celebrate our people and reinforce the behaviours behind our success.

• Strengthen client confidence with external validation of our values-led approach.

• Push ourselves further, stay curious, and raise industry standards. Ultimately, the award’s real value lies in helping us continue doing the right thing, bringing clarity, confidence, and better outcomes for all.

jersey finance.com

Jersey is a forward-thinking international finance centre — independent, with its own elected parliament and judicial system, providing certainty and confidence for global investors.

With over 60 years of experience and a workforce of more than 14,000 finance professionals, globally-recognised firms deliver specialist expertise across funds, private wealth, banking, investment management and corporate services. Supported by a strong, transparent and internationally respected regulatory framework, Jersey offers a secure environment that inspires long-term investor trust and confidence.

We are resilient, reputable and ready for the future.

Visit jerseyfinance.com to discover how Jersey remains a stable platform for growth, innovation and international success.

Leading Wealth Management Through Collaboration and Long-term Vision

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration and working in partnership are concepts that have long been central to Jersey’s success as an IFC.

At Jersey Finance, for instance, we work closely with our local trade bodies, the Jersey Financial Services Commission, the Government of Jersey and Digital Jersey to maintain and continuously evolve the Island’s position as a leading IFC.

From a broader jurisdictional perspective, Jersey also collaborates closely with the other Crown Dependencies on key policy and regulatory issues, while remaining actively engaged in international forums such as the World Alliance of International Financial Centres. Ultimately, Jersey’s success is rooted in being confident and pragmatic enough to collaborate in a cross-border financial services landscape that is increasingly complex and fragmented.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how is Jersey adapting to meet them?

Over the next five years, the sector will face ongoing challenges from technological change, regulatory complexity, geopolitical volatility, and evolving client needs.

Jersey, however, has never rested on its laurels. Last year saw the launch of two initiatives to address these challenges. The Government of Jersey’s Competitiveness Programme aims to strengthen the IFC’s proposition and enhance growth over the next decade, with government, regulator, and industry collaborating on clear, actionable recommendations. Enhancements to the Jersey Private Fund regime were an immediate output, with more planned in 2026.

Winner

• International Finance Centre

Robert Moore Director Jersey Finance

In addition, Jersey Finance launched its Vision2050 project to explore the long-term role of the industry. This project has taken a deep dive into the Island’s strengths but also addresses where we can make further enhancements, to ensure Jersey continues to be a progressive, streamlined IFC that is easy to do business with.

How do you look to develop future leaders within Jersey’s IFC?

Part of ‘Vision2050’ incorporates the need for a resilient, skilled workforce and we have already made significant headway in this regard through a ‘Future-Fit Workforce’ programme. It’s about encouraging young people to explore the diverse opportunities of a career in financial services through greater engagement with schools, as well as supporting the upskilling and reskilling of those already in the industry.

Additionally, events like our annual Rising Stars Awards – now in their seventh year – which champion the next generation of financial professionals and our Future Leaders Forum, which provides a platform for collaboration, provide further opportunities to nurture our leaders of tomorrow.

What does winning this award mean to Jersey?

Reputation is critical in a sophisticated, competitive, and relationship-driven market. Consistent recognition is a strong endorsement of Jersey’s enduring appeal.

Our aim is to differentiate Jersey through collaboration, innovation in fintech and sustainable finance, internationally recognised regulatory standards, and specialist expertise all built on stability and certainty. This award reinforces the importance of these priorities as we continue supporting the ambitions of private clients and families worldwide.

Julius Baer International: How a People-centric Business Drives High Performance

Julius Baer International Ltd, the UK subsidiary of Julius Baer Group, provides private clients with wealth management, investment advisory, and multi-generational wealth planning, combining technical expertise with a personal approach.

What role has collaboration - either internally or with external partners - played in your success?

Collaboration sits at the heart of our value proposition. Our team’s strong presence in the UK is complemented by colleagues in multiple locations who provide our clients with international expertise and a global outlook. Being part of a global team allows us to seamlessly advise internationally mobile clients in relation to cross border and multi-jurisdictional issues.

Closer to home, we collaborate with the Investment Management team to provide coordinated and personalised client support. We also draw on the expertise of internal specialists where a client has a particular interest such as Private Equity or Structured Products.

Similarly, when it comes to philanthropy, we work closely with the Julius Baer Foundation as well as our UK charity partners, helping forge connections between clients wanting to make a difference and the most relevant parties.

Externally, we leverage our network of Approved Service Partners (ASPs) which contains tax and legal advisors as well as those who specialise in other areas such as family governance.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

We believe exceptional client service begins with empowered, fulfilled professionals. That’s why we invest deeply in our people, something demonstrated by our listing in the Sunday Times’ Best Places to Work awards for the last two years.

Winner

• Wealth Planning Team

Julius Baer International Ltd

Our flat hierarchy promotes bottom-up, critical thinking and innovative ideas. Additionally, our structured peer feedback process has normalised performance conversations to support sustained excellence.

Every employee at Julius Baer International receives an annual personal development budget, which many in our team have used to pursue qualifications beyond the technical requirements associated with their roles such as where philanthropic advice is concerned. This blend of technical and soft skills enables our team to guide families through sensitive conversations about succession, responsibility, and legacy.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

One of the most pressing challenges is intergenerational wealth transfer. However, at Julius Baer International, next generation engagement is a core component of our strategy.

We nurture intergenerational client relationships by delivering wealth planning sessions in our prestigious educational platforms for the children of clients. We also run a Wealth Planning module as part of business’s Women and Wealth series which aims to cultivate financial independence and wealth-building strategies among women.

Engaging with the next generation involves cutting out jargon, curating targeted educational events, and initiating discussions around the purpose of wealth, something we are particularly passionate about given our commitment to create value beyond wealth.

As a Wealth Planning team, we’re dedicated to intergenerational stewardship, ensuring our clients are not only planning for wealth transfer but also for their legacy.

Excellence Across Borders: How Levitt Capital Manages Complexity and Drives Performance

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

At Levitt Capital Management, excellence begins with a choice: to serve US citizens living in Europe - a client group many firms consider too complex.

Our clients navigate two legal and regulatory systems that often conflict. US tax law clashes with common European investment structures, and widely used European products - funds, ETFs, insurance wrappers can create punitive tax consequences. Meanwhile, European regulations constrain how advisory services are delivered.

There’s no off-the-shelf solution, so we built our own framework. Portfolios are constructed security by security, compliant with US tax rules, globally diversified, and cost-efficient. Every decision must hold up under two regulatory regimes. That discipline shapes our culture: “The margin for error is small”.

Culture is also shaped by client expectations. Americans value direct communication, transparency, and accessibility, while European advisory relationships can be more formal. We train our team to bridge these differences, delivering familiar service with professional rigor.

We operate at the intersection of markets, regulation, taxation, and culture a demanding space that drives both high standards and strong performance.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration is not a slogan for us - it’s a requirement.

Cross-border estate and succession planning involves US tax law, European civil law systems, and financial structuring across jurisdictions. Many professionals describe themselves as “cross-border.” Few have real experience advising Americans living abroad.

Over time, we’ve learned how to tell the difference.

We work closely with a select group of tax attorneys, notaries, CPAs, and estate specialists who understand both the technical framework and the practical realities of American expatriates. We don’t simply make referrals. We stay involved. We structure solutions together and test them from both sides of the Atlantic.

That coordination reduces execution risk and protects clients from fragmented advice – where one advisor solves a problem in one jurisdiction while creating another in a different one.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

The biggest challenge in the next five years won’t be market volatility - it will be structural complexity. For US citizens abroad, regulation evolves independently across the US, Europe, and local jurisdictions, increasing planning risk. Reforms in taxation, trust reporting, and European product regulation mean cross-border clients face greater scrutiny and less margin for error.

We respond by deepening technical expertise, focusing on disciplined portfolio construction, direct security selection, and cross-border estate coordination. Demographics add urgency, as many American expatriates approach retirement, requiring succession planning across civil law and US estate systems. We collaborate closely with estate attorneys and tax specialists.

Fee compression and demand for transparency reinforce the need for clarity. Technology aids efficiency, but cross-border wealth management remains a judgment problem, not a software one. The next five years will reward specialisation, discipline, and structural thinking - our guiding approach from the start.

Officer

www.lgt.com

LGT: Where Technology Empowers Human Advice

Markus Werner Member of the Executive Board & Head

Intermediary Business

LGT Bank Ltd.

• External Asset Management Platform and Offering Winner

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

One of the most impactful innovations we introduced recently is our GenAI platform “Lumen”. As an internal large language model, it enables our teams to access relevant knowledge across the bank quickly and efficiently. This improves how our people prepare for client interactions, respond to complex questions and collaborate across teams and locations.

The efficiency gains are important, but they are not the goal in themselves. By reducing time spent on manual research or routine tasks, Lumen allows our relationship managers to focus more on understanding intermediaries and their clients – and supporting them in complex, often sensitive situations.

How do you cultivate a culture that drives excellence and high performance?

We see culture as one of the key drivers of long-term performance. For us, this starts with trust and empowerment. We encourage our people to think independently, take responsibility and challenge ideas constructively.

At the same time, clear values provide orientation in how we work together and how we serve intermediaries and clients. When people have both a strong sense of responsibility and the freedom to contribute their perspectives, high performance tends to follow naturally.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration plays an essential role in how we work. Internally, it allows us to bring together specialists from across the bank, so intermediaries and clients benefit from the full breadth of our expertise. In complex situations, combining different perspectives leads to better, more robust decisions.

Externally, our success is closely linked to long-standing relationships with financial intermediaries, as independent asset managers, fund management companies, trustees and lawyers. For almost four decades, we have worked alongside them to support them and their clients with tailored solutions. They value not only our offering and expertise, but also the stability and continuity associated with our ownership structure.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

Looking ahead, two developments will be particularly decisive. The first is digitalisation. AI-supported tools and digital platforms will play an increasingly important role in wealth management, and many partners and clients will judge banking relationships by the quality and usability of these services.

At the same time, the human dimension of advice will become even more critical. Empathy, judgement, and the ability to navigate complex intermediary requirements, family, or entrepreneurial situations cannot easily be automated. Technology therefore acts as an enabler, allowing relationship managers to focus on meaningful conversations rather than routine tasks.

The second major development is the intergenerational transfer of wealth. Over the coming years, an unprecedented share of global wealth will move to the next generation, reshaping expectations and priorities. With its heritage, LGT is well positioned to support financial intermediaries and their clients across generations – from governance and legal structures to defining the long-term purpose of wealth. Initiatives such as our “Next Gen Academy” engage intermediaries and the next generation of clients early, helping them prepare for the responsibilities that come with wealth.

Lincoln Private Investment Office: The Ownership Model Redefining Wealth Management

What was the winning formula of your firm that explains why you won?

We feel very strongly that the structure of our firm is one of the core elements that sets us apart. Lincoln is a genuinely independent wealth management business that is jointly owned by the team and a small number of our clients. With the shareholders of Lincoln only being clients and team members, we are aligned with our clients in a way that does not normally exist in our industry. This approach means that our shareholders care about exceptional service and long-term investment performance rather than driving profits at the expense of clients.

Shareholders and team members do not receive discounts, nor are they provided with better access to interesting opportunities than other clients.

Everything we do is about ensuring we are as aligned as we can be. To increase our alignment with our clients, we require all team members to invest their own money alongside our clients’, meaning that if we lose money for our clients, we lose money for ourselves and our families too. With our own assets committed, we remain focused in a way that few other wealth management businesses are and demonstrate the courage of our convictions.

We do not have any of our own products, nor do we conform to a particular investment style. We have built the business to be as aligned as it can be and always focused on our clients’ best interests.

Where do you see the wealth management industry, and your role within it - going over the next five years?

The UK wealth management industry continues to attract attention from global institutions and the pace of consolidation this year so far has been significant. Whilst this shows no sign of slowing down, we believe our structure and independence will continue to allow us to put our clients at the forefront of everything we do.

We have no interest in Lincoln being the biggest, but we are striving to be the best. Our future goals remain the same as our starting goals, to look after our current clients as well as we possibly can. We will continue to look for additional ways to improve and deliver excellent performance and service for our clients.

Transparency and integrity will always continue to be of importance. As a certified B-Corporation, we have gone through an independent assessment that verifies the business meets high standards of social and environmental performance. This feels like a natural fit with the way we view the world and allows us to demonstrate accountability and transparency on these subjects, which will be an increasing priority to our clients in the years to come.

Ross Elder Managing Partner Lincoln Private Investment Office

stabilit y.

Today, the world is out of balance. What were once certainties are now liabilities. Globalisation has turned from opportunity to vulnerability. In a volatile era, we all crave stability. But when others slow down and dig in, we find balance through movement. At Lombard Odier we’ve spent two centuries readjusting, realigning and rethinking for our clients.

For we know in times of chaos, stability is not static. It is constantly created. By rethinking. Everything. Discover the power of rethinking at LombardOdier.com

Lombard Odier: Cultivating Excellence Through Innovation, Collaboration and Leadership

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

Lombard Odier is an independent firm owned by its Managing Partners. With decades of experience at the Bank, they ensure Lombard Odier continues to live by the core values on which it was founded: Excellence, Innovation, Respect, Integrity and One Team.

At Lombard Odier, excellence is a mindset we nurture every day. We start by giving our teams a clear sense of purpose: every decision, innovation, and operational improvement must ultimately create value for our clients.

We also place great emphasis on collaboration. Our best successes emerge when cross-functional teams unite to ensure that innovation is seamlessly aligned with client needs and operational excellence.

This integrated approach has enabled us to design and continuously enhance our proprietary platforms such as G2/GX and My LO, delivering solutions that combine technological sophistication with a client-centric perspective.

Can you share a story that best illustrates your team’s commitment to client service or problem solving?

One of the most compelling stories of our commitment to client service is the work behind the latest evolution of My LO, our flagship e-banking platform awarded 'Best Customer Facing Digital Capabilities'. From the outset, we anchored the project in deep collaboration around a shared ambition: to build a next-generation digital experience truly centred on our clients’ evolving needs.

Our technology teams partnered closely with investment specialists and relationship managers to understand our clients’ expectations. With an increased focus on personalisation, intuitive design, and real-time portfolio insights, My LO evolved to better

Geoffroy De Ridder Head of the T&O Unit Lombard Odier

Winner

• Private Bank - Customer Facing Digital Capabilities (Banking)

support our clients in navigating and managing their wealth with clarity and confidence.

The My LO journey captures the essence of our mindset: deep commitment to our clients, a constant drive to innovate, and the conviction that when technology and business move forward together, we redefine the standards of digital wealth management.

Lombard Odier has a long tradition of innovation and believes that technology is central to banking.

How do you identify and develop future leaders within your organisation?

We are deeply committed to recognising and developing talent across the organisation. We have established clear and transparent career tracks, offering colleagues the flexibility to pursue a professional path aligned with their aspirations – whether they wish to advance in technical, functional, or managerial roles. The objective is simple: to offer clarity on internal mobility and provide every individual with the tools and visibility they need to shape their professional journey.

To support our managers, we invest in targeted programmes designed to elevate their leadership capabilities. In 2025, more than 900 hours of Leadership & Management training were delivered across the T&O Unit, empowering them to broaden their expertise and develop into the next generation of leaders.

We firmly believe that our long-term success depends on our ability to attract, integrate, and nurture individuals from diverse genders, backgrounds and experiences. This diversity is essential to strengthening our leadership pipeline and fuelling our capacity to innovate.

Proud winner of the Philanthropy Offering /Initiative of the Year Award

Thoughtful Philanthropy, Expertly Delivered

Charitable trusts offer your clients a flexible, structured way to support the causes they care about — whether funding local initiatives, the arts, education or global environmental projects or many other areas.

Ludlow Trust establishes and administers charitable trusts on your clients’ behalf, providing a seamless, fully managed service. Our specialists guide clients in shaping their grant‑making strategy, engaging the next generation and creating a lasting philanthropic legacy. Trusts can be structured to be as hands‑on or hands‑off as each client prefers.

We work closely with investment managers, private banks, legal advisers and accountants to ensure every charitable trust fits neatly within a client’s wider financial and estate‑planning arrangements — complementing what you already do for them.

Exploring the different types of philanthropy

Developing or reviewing charitable giving strategies

The award‑winning Ludlow Funding Enquiry Gateway connects philanthropists with charities by giving UK‑registered and exempt charities a single portal to apply for grants from Ludlow‑managed charitable trusts. Clients can review tailored or general applications at any time, creating a more efficient route between those offering funding and those seeking it.

Charitable trusts also offer compelling tax advantages for clients. As an additional‑rate taxpayer your client could establish a £500,000 trust for around £265,000 with Gift Aid, and leaving 10% of their estate to charity may reduce the net cost to their family to as little as 2.5%. We also support non‑domiciled clients wishing to establish a UK charitable trust.

Alongside charitable trusts, we help clients with wills and family trust planning, ensuring their affairs are managed seamlessly in one place.

Researching charities

Engaging the next generation

Measuring impact

Excellence in Action: How Collaboration and Expertise Drive Impactful Philanthropy

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

Our philanthropy offering is one of the areas that truly sets us apart. It is bespoke, insightful and seamlessly delivered, helping clients plan their charitable giving in a structured, meaningful way while staying focused on the causes that matter most to them.

Winning this award for the second-year running is a powerful endorsement of the quality and distinctiveness of our approach. It is a source of immense pride across the team and a reassuring signal to clients that they are in safe hands. It also reinforces the value of the work we do every day – supporting individuals and families to make an impact through carefully planned philanthropy.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration is fundamental to the way we work. We partner closely with our sister company, Charter Tax, as well as with clients’ own advisers, to ensure that all planning is both tax efficient and fully compliant. We also maintain strong relationships with banks, investment managers and independent financial advisers so that clients receive holistic support, rather than advice focused solely on the trusts we administer.

Beyond this, we draw on an extensive network of professionals across the legal, accounting and philanthropy advisory sectors. This ensures that whatever a client’s circumstances or objectives, we can bring in the right expertise at the right time.

Collaboration has been particularly important in developing the Ludlow Funding Enquiry Gateway, our unique service that connects philanthropists with charities aligned to their core areas of interest. Through the Gateway, we have helped clients donate more than £10 million to charities with which they had no prior relationship, while ensuring each gift reflects the donor’s intentions.

Chris Thurlow Managing Director Ludlow Trust

Winner

• Philanthropy Offering/ Initiative of the Year

Can you share a story that best illustrates your team’s commitment to client service?

Client service sits at the heart of everything we do – whether supporting philanthropy, administering family trusts or ensuring appropriate wills and lasting powers of attorney are in place. One client had accumulated a complex mix of portfolios and trusts after working with multiple investment managers over many years. They were looking for clarity, consolidation and a partner to help them begin a meaningful family philanthropy journey.

We established and now administer a charitable trust with the family, collaborated with their tax adviser to optimise charitable reliefs, took on the administration of a complex family trust and worked with a new investment manager to consolidate historic portfolios. We also ensured appropriate estate planning documents were in place.

The result has been clarity, peace of mind and a coordinated solution delivered in the family’s best interests.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

It begins with leading by example. Our board and management team have unparalleled experience and a deep commitment to our mission and to our clients.

Low staff turnover helps preserve a positive culture and ensures continuity. We recruit from a wide range of professional backgrounds to broaden our expertise, and we continue to invest in people, processes and technology.

From day one, colleagues benefit from in depth induction and tailored training, supported by the close knit nature of the business – an environment that consistently drives excellence.

Aligned, Independent, and Performance-Driven Wealth Management

How has your institutional asset management background shaped the foundation and positioning of Milgauss Capital within the private wealth space?

By way of background, Milgauss Capital is an independent financial advisory firm based in Andorra, founded in 2024 by two partners with extensive institutional asset management experience. Prior to establishing the firm, we were responsible for managing over €1.5 billion in assets, including mandates such as the Andorran government’s pension reserve fund. This institutional background defines our approach today, bringing governance standards, risk management discipline, and transparency traditionally reserved for institutional investors into the private wealth space.

Independence is often cited in wealth management but rarely defined. How does Milgauss Capital ensure genuine independence and full alignment with client interests?

Our mission is to provide truly independent, transparent, and client-focused financial advice. Independence is not merely a principle but a contractual obligation: we are strictly prohibited from receiving any third-party remuneration, commissions, or retrocessions. This structure eliminates conflicts of interest that remain prevalent in much of the European wealth management industry and ensures full alignment with client interests.

• Wealth Management Business - Iberian Region

Arnau Viėa Martiėnez-Seara Founding Partner Carlos Gonzaělez Querol Founding Partner Milgauss Capital, ASF

What differentiates your investment methodology, and how do you ensure transparency and measurable value creation for clients?

From an investment perspective, our model is built on institutional-grade discipline. Portfolios are structured through strategic asset allocation and implemented using cost-efficient index products. Each client portfolio is measured against a clear, replicable benchmark constructed from investable ETFs, with defined tracking error limits and a strong focus on risk-adjusted performance.

How do you measure true value added for clients, and how does your organisational and fee structure reinforce long-term alignment?

Our key performance metric is alpha generated per unit of tracking error, allowing clients to clearly understand both performance and the source of value added. The firm is managed directly by its two founding partners, supported by a lean and highly skilled team, enabling us to combine agility with institutional rigor. Our fee structure is fully transparent and tiered according to assets under advisory, reinforcing fairness and long-term alignment.

Global custody, investment administration, digital and reporting services that integrates into your operational capabilities.

Further capital efficiencies that supports robust compliance, enabling more effective scalability.

Multrees Investor Services: Keeping People, Partnership and Platforms at the Heart of Wealth Management

At Multrees Investor Services, we are proud to have been awarded 'Best Global Custodian to Private Client Business' and 'Best Platform Provider' at the WealthBriefing Awards 2026. This recognition reflects our continued focus on partnership-led service, configurable technology and people-first delivery in an evolving wealth management landscape.

At the core of our proposition is our insourcing model, a deliberate alternative to traditional outsourcing that enables wealth managers to retain control, knowledge and direct client relationships while benefiting from deep operational and technical expertise.

“Insourcing allows us to bring in expertise that becomes an extension of our clients’ business,” explains Martyn Johnson. “We embed our people, systems and thinking into the way wealth managers operate, so expertise feels part of the furniture rather than a bolt-on service.”

Partnership over standardisation

As regulatory expectations increase and reporting requirements grow more complex, custodians are being asked to do far more than simply safeguard assets. We have responded by positioning ourselves as a trusted partner, sharing compliance risk and helping clients navigate operational and strategic challenges.

Trust is built through long-term relationships, a deep understanding of our clients’ business models, and the confidence that we are aligned with their growth ambitions.

This approach has become increasingly important amid ongoing consolidation across the sector. While scale and efficiency are often cited as benefits of private equity-led M&A, fragmented platforms and loss of flexibility can create significant operational strain.

“Our role is to provide stability,” Martyn adds. “Firms need

Martyn

Johnson - Chief Operating Officer

Chris Fisher - CEO

Multrees Investor Services

• Platform Provider

• Global Custodian to a Private Client Business Winner

partners who understand the disruption consolidation can cause and who can help them maintain service quality, operational control and strategic clarity through periods of change.”

Technology that supports relationships

Our award-winning platform is deliberately modular, combining global custody, execution, administration, technology and reporting in a way that adapts to each client’s needs. Open architecture enables seamless integration with third-party providers, ensuring flexibility as firms evolve.

While technology remains a powerful enabler, we are clear that it should never replace human judgement. Research from S&P Global shows that investors are less responsive to advice when they know it has been generated by AI, a finding that strongly resonates with our philosophy.

“Clients don’t confide in data models,” says Martyn. “They confide in people they trust. AI can automate routine processes and enhance insight, but advice must blend personal understanding with financial expertise.”

Investing in people and adaptability

To preserve that expertise, we place strong emphasis on professional development, internal mobility and ongoing education. Wealth managers must remain deeply engaged in core activities to avoid over-reliance on automation and to fully understand both the capabilities and limitations of new technologies.

Looking ahead, we see the future of wealth management not as a single defining trend, but as a test of adaptability.

As our CEO Chris Fisher notes: “Success will belong to those who combine adaptability with integrity, and who recognise that trust, once earned, remains the industry’s most valuable asset.”

NICE Actimize: Strengthening Suitability and Regulatory Certainty Through AI-Driven Supervision

General Manager, Compliance NICE Actimize

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

One of our most significant recent innovations is AI Assist within Compliancentral, a transparent, chat-like alert research capability that helps compliance teams quickly understand why an alert was triggered and distinguish false positives from genuine risks. By embedding explainable insights directly into the workflow, AI Assist accelerates case progression, streamlines triage, and reinforces supervisory best practices. A differentiating innovation is that the AI Assist agent is not just a chatbot. While it can answer questions and provide insights like a chatbot, it can also perform tasks like an agent with user supervision. For example, it can advance the alert through case management steps, add comments, or engage other users for feedback.

Combined with our AI-driven suitability monitoring and automated dashboards, this innovation enables firms to move from reactive review processes to proactive, risk-based supervision. Supervisors gain real-time visibility into advisor behavior, recommendation patterns, and documentation quality – strengthening oversight while ensuring clients consistently receive suitable, well-aligned advice.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

Excellence at NICE Actimize is rooted in a shared mission: protecting markets and consumers while enabling financial institutions to operate with confidence. We foster accountability and innovation by bringing together regulatory specialists, data scientists, and client-facing teams to translate complex obligations into practical, defensible workflows.

Our own product development mindset is grounded on two leadership principles: trustworthiness and competence. These define the way we work internally, and what we project to our customers.

We measure success not only by technological advancement but by measurable outcomes – improved compliance effectiveness, reduced supervisory burden, and increased transparency.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration is essential to ensuring our solutions reflect real-world supervisory demands. Internally, product, analytics, and regulatory experts work closely to address emerging risks. Externally, ongoing engagement with regulators, industry bodies, and clients help us anticipate evolving expectations and refine our approach to suitability supervision.

This collaborative model ensures firms can demonstrate coverage, calibration, and timely alert review – critical priorities as regulatory scrutiny intensifies.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

Winning the Suitability category at the WealthBriefing European Awards extends a multi-year global winning streak for NICE Actimize and reinforces our commitment to helping firms deliver compliant, client-focused advice.

As regulators heighten expectations – including the focus highlighted in FINRA’s 2026 Oversight priorities on evidencing best-interest decisions, documenting costs and alternatives, and strengthening surveillance coverage –firms must demonstrate that suitability and supervision programs are robust, explainable, and audit-ready. NICE Actimize supports this mandate by surfacing higher-risk recommendations, automating supervisory checks, and evidencing bestinterest decisions at scale.

This recognition validates our holistic approach: AI-driven monitoring, automated oversight, explainable insights, and comprehensive audit trails that enhance supervision, reduce risk, and ensure investment advice remains suitable, transparent, and defensible.

Antifragile investing

Managing assets to preserve wealth across generations and prosper through economic cycles

Proud winner:

Noble Capital Management (NCM) - Scaling Antifragile Investment Management

Please explain why your business was able to reach this award-winning level

Our growing recognition reflects the consistency and scalability of our investment process. At the core of NCM’s success is the sustained performance of our Enhanced Physical Gold Macro strategy, which combines a structural allocation to physical gold with an actively managed macro-overlay trading across precious metals and currencies, alongside carefully selected opportunistic trades.

Following solid performance in 2024, the strategy delivered a net return of 90.60% in 2025, bringing annualised performance since inception to over 22%. Performance has continued strongly into early 2026, with returns exceeding 20% year to date.

Over time, this approach has enabled us to generate significant outperformance relative to gold and passive gold strategies by consistently striking a balance between growth potential and capital preservation across different market environments.

How do you intend to remain on the front foot and continue to set a high standard?

We believe maintaining high standards requires ongoing institutional strengthening. Over the past year, we have further structured our investment and operational framework, adding depth to our risk function through the appointment of an additional risk officer.

In parallel, we commissioned freestanding Investment Due Diligence (IDD) and Operational Due Diligence (ODD) reports carried out by independent external providers. These reviews provided formal validation of our governance, compliance and investment processes, and aligned our documentation with institutional allocator requirements.

• Alternative Investment Manager (Independent)

Hans Ulriksen CEO & Portfolio Manager Noble Capital Management (NCM) SA

As we expand our distribution and outreach efforts internationally - including in the GCC and European markets - our focus remains on disciplined operations and supporting growth with institutional processes and infrastructure.

What key challenges did you face, and how did you handle them?

Recent market conditions have once again highlighted the importance of active management in precious metals strategies, particularly during periods of heightened volatility and market regime shifts. In 2025 and the beginning of 2026, the strategy demonstrated its full potential and tactically hedged part of its gold exposure using excess returns from the trading overlay, all while maintaining a structural long bias and remaining consistent with the broader investment thesis.

This flexibility has resonated well with institutional allocators seeking to diversify their gold allocations beyond physical gold or passive ETF exposures and looking for a more dynamic and differentiated alternative within a controlled risk framework.

What does winning this award again mean to your firm?

Winning this award for a second consecutive year provides meaningful validation of both our performance, processes, and organic development. Over the past year, we have seen increasing engagement from institutional investors globally, with a growing pipeline of mandates and expanding interest from sophisticated allocators.

This recognition supports our vision and distribution efforts and validates further the confidence in our approach. Our objective remains clear: to deliver actively managed, antifragile strategies within a robust and scalable institutional framework.

Gl bal reach

Private clients need trusted advisers and an interconnected world demands a global perspective. Our lawyers include some of the most respected names from across the offshore private client world.

We advise on BVI, Cayman, Guernsey, Irish, Jersey and Luxembourg law across all time-zones – and our Trusts Advisory Group draws together a seamless contentious and non-contentious advisory service which also includes relevant corporate support.

Ogier: Setting the Benchmark for Excellence in Private Wealth

Can you share an example that best illustrates your team’s commitment to client service or problem-solving?

Increased concentration of wealth and succession planning within UHNW families is driving demand for bespoke investment solutions. Families face challenges in structuring investments to ensure the orderly transfer of wealth, robust governance and tax efficiency, often spanning multiple jurisdictions.

Ogier’s specialist private wealth and investment fund capabilities collaborate to serve family offices, which are increasingly institutional in stature, requiring investment structures that have investment fund ‘architecture’. This appeals to clients as they receive advice that is joined up and provides a complete answer, it is a cross over that we have pioneered and which our competitors struggle to deliver effectively.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

Ogier pairs the largest and most experienced offshore private wealth practice with industry-leading innovation, exceptional cross-border capability and a culture of inclusion and excellence. Our innovation transforms client experience.

Under our Innovation Programme is OgierAI, which features chat and document handling. This significantly enhances user document interaction with bespoke security to protect client data.

Our AI Programme develops general AI tools and evaluates specialist AI legal technologies. Our Paralegal Hub and Global Support Team provide scalable cross-jurisdictional support so we can seamlessly deliver quality service to our clients.

Offshore Law Firm

Matt Guthrie Global Head of Private Wealth Ogier

This is complemented by the 98% of our workforce who are trained in Lean Six Sigma, which streamlines processes, enhances efficiency and fosters innovation

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

What continues to set Ogier apart is the consistency and quality of our people. Across every jurisdiction, our teams approach private wealth work with clarity, technical confidence and a genuine commitment to doing the right thing for clients. That combination of expertise and judgement is something we work hard to nurture, and it shows in the trust our clients place in us. Leading a group of individuals who collaborate so naturally, and who take real pride in the work they deliver, remains one of the most rewarding aspects of my role.

What are some key indicators of your firm’s success?

We have hit a people milestone with our global headcount reaching 1300 in 2025, an 8.3% increase in the past 12 months, including 10 new partners across the business.

Ogier is the largest offshore private wealth team across contentious and non-contentious work, advising on BVI, Cayman, Guernsey, Jersey, Ireland and Luxembourg law. We work hard to provide unmatched jurisdictional coverage with seamless cross-border collaboration across our European offices.

We’re very proud of our depth of experience in the market, recognised silks, specialist partners and rising talent across all jurisdictions.

RBC’s UHNW and Institutional Trust Teams Client Focused Approach

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

We drive excellence and high performance across our Private Wealth proposition and Private Client Fiduciary Services through regular investment in our people and attracting top talent, harnessing technology to improve delivery of our services, showcasing our wealth management and trust expertise on a local level with a global perspective and leveraging our thought leadership credentials across the industry.

Underpinning our ethos is our client-focused approach, whereby every client is unique and so we seek to understand their emotional, financial and practical needs to develop a wealth plan built for their future. Our wealth planning solutions expands our clients’ possibilities through complex global coverage and touchpoints across multiple RBC businesses. We underpin all of this by driving change within our communities through youth, environmental and arts initiatives, living by our motto of helping clients thrive and communities prosper.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

For a business to grow, it must innovate, be willing to adapt and invest in its people and systems.

Our Private Client Fiduciary Services welcomed 16 hires during the financial year. Almost 20% of these individuals are returners to

• UHNW Team

• Institutional Trust or Fiduciary Team

Ross Jennings Head of RBC Private Wealth

Gail MCourt

Head of Private Client Fiduciary Services

RBC Wealth Management

RBC after working elsewhere in the market, bringing with them additional context and market knowledge to help us support our clients more effectively. All teams benefit from robust training programmes, which support personal growth and harness their skills. Our Private Wealth team showcases their expertise and client focus through 49 qualified relationship managers who have nurtured generational client relationships over several years and can advise across complex cross-border estate planning, tax-efficient investment, retirement solutions and bespoke credit solutions.

In terms of innovation, the business has embraced a responsible and strategic use of AI across some of our administrative and support functions.

Finally, our ability to see the big picture means we work with trusted global counterparts to support clients with complex crossborder requirements or who wish to consolidate geographically diverse wealth activity into one provider.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

We’re a leader globally in AI innovation. Through RBC Borealis, our dedicated AI research centre, we harness the power of AI to deliver more efficient and effective solutions at a local level.

We’re fiercely committed to using AI responsibly - respecting diversity, upholding human integrity, and staying true to our purpose of helping our clients thrive and communities prosper.

Market Return, or Manager Skill?

privateAlpha® gives institutional investors a clear, transparent, fund-level view of private infrastructure performance. It ranks value creation beyond the market, as measured by the infra300® index and enables like-for-like comparisons within the right peer groups. See alpha generation across vintages and strategies, using a market reference that moves with the market, supporting strategic asset allocation and manager selection.

For GPs, privateAlpha® provides an external market reference to validate performance and assess valuation credibility against market signals.

Bringing Evidence-Based Transparency to Private Markets

Could five-star ratings be the missing layer of transparency in private infrastructure and private equity investing?

Private markets are scaling rapidly, but transparency hasn’t kept pace. With infrequent transactions and uneven disclosure, institutional investors often struggle to form a timely, consistent view of pricing, risk, and performance when they need them most.

Scientific Infra & Private Assets (SIPA), Part of PEI is an ESMAregistered provider of indices and analytics for private infrastructure and private equity. We publish market-referenced indices spanning 150 countries and one million+ companies, helping investors distinguish market exposure from manager value creation and strengthen performance measurement, risk oversight and valuation governance.

Impactful innovation in private markets

Our most impactful recent innovation is the privateAlpha® platform. Built through working alongside a prominent asset manager and shaped by day-to-day investor questions, it supports a persistent challenge, “Is this manager skill or the market?”

privateAlpha® complements our indices with fund rankings and performance analytics, covering 180 GPs and 500+ funds representing more than USD 1 trillion of AuM across private equity and private infrastructure equity and debt as measured by the infra300® and private2000® index.

In private markets, IRR quartiles and small peer groups are not reliable signals. They typically mix market movements with genuine value creation, whether the strategy is buyout, growth, infrastructure equity, or infrastructure debt. A “top quartile” label may reflect a rising tide, rather than repeatable skill.

Frederic Blanc-Brude CEO

Scientific Infra & Private Assets, Part of PEI

Winner

• Data Provider

privateAlpha® addresses this by grounding fund performance in their market context and enabling like-for-like comparisons within appropriate peer groups, benchmarking alpha generation across vintages and strategies. Fund Alpha is measured and used to rank funds, not just a word in a fund rating pitch. For LPs, this allows manager selection with a clear, independent and impartial reference point. For GPs, it offers a credible external lens for performance narratives, attribution and investor relations.

Award recognition

Winning this award reinforces our core proposition, private market performance measurement should be evidence-led and responsive to market conditions. WealthBriefing’s recognition reflects the growing expectation that rigorous benchmarking is increasingly seen as essential infrastructure for private markets. We’ll use this visibility to accelerate adoption as the industry shifts from “top-quartile” claims towards demonstrable, market-referenced alpha and a clearer view of persistence of skill over time.

A culture of excellence and collaboration

Our culture is grounded in academic research and practitioner needs. SIPA works closely with the EDHEC Infra & Private Assets Research Institute, and that relationship is central to how we build our services. Academic research informs methodology, and investor use cases inform implementation and governance. We invest heavily in quality data, statistical robustness, and clear explanations of how our methods work, what our data covers, and where results should be interpreted with caution. This combination of research-led development and practical application enables tools that stand up to institutional scrutiny.

Stephenson Executive Search Celebrates Award Win Following a Year of Growth, Retention and European Expansion

Billy Stephenson Managing Director Stephenson Executive Search

Over the past 12 months, Stephenson Executive Search (SES) has continued to strengthen its position as one of the most respected executive search firms in financial services. Reflecting on the year, Managing Director Billy Stephenson points to a combination of sustained growth, consistent delivery, and a deep commitment to relationships as the foundation of the firm’s success.

“Last year has been one of real momentum for us,” Stephenson explains. “We’ve achieved a 100% completion rate on our mandates and a 100% retention rate on placements, which is something we’re particularly proud of. It demonstrates that we’re not just placing candidates - we’re getting those decisions right for the long term.”

This performance has been underpinned by strong financial growth. The firm has maintained consistent expansion, with revenue increasing significantly over recent years and continued year-on-year growth. Alongside this, SES has expanded its geographic reach, now operating across key European markets including Switzerland, France, Germany, and Monaco, as well as maintaining a strong UK presence.

For Stephenson, the firm’s success is not defined by metrics alone.

most notable developments has been the integration of AI technology to improve efficiency and allow consultants to spend more time on high-value advisory work. “The purpose of investing in AI isn’t to replace human judgement,” Stephenson says. “It’s to enhance it. By reducing administrative burden, we can dedicate more time to understanding our clients and candidates in depth.”

At the same time, SES has continued to prioritise diversity, social mobility, and long-term talent development. As an early signatory of the Black Talent Charter and a long-standing supporter of student work experience placements through The Mossbourne Academy, the firm is actively contributing to a more inclusive future for the industry.

Looking ahead, Stephenson is clear that the firm’s strategy is one of focused, sustainable growth. “We’re expanding our team, deepening our expertise in wealth management, asset management, and family offices, and continuing to build out our research and advisory capabilities,” he explains. “But importantly, we’re not looking to change who we are. Our goal is to refine and enhance what we already do well.”

•

Wealth Management Executive Search Firm (Europe) Winner

“More than 80% of our revenue comes from returning clients - a clear reflection of the trust we’ve earned. We have always believed executive search should be driven by relationships, not transactions, and that philosophy continues to underpin our results.”

A major focus over the past year has been enhancing the firm’s capabilities while staying true to its core values. One of the

That includes continuing to invest in people - both internally and externally. “Our business has always been about alignment: aligning the right individuals with the right organisations. When you get that right, everything else followsperformance, retention, and long-term success.”

As SES looks to the future, Stephenson remains confident. “We’ve had a record start to the year and we’re seeing strong demand across our core markets. There’s a real opportunity to continue growing internationally while maintaining the quality and integrity that define us. If we stay true to our values, I’m confident the next 12 months will be just as successful.”

FLEMING

GLOBAL EXPERTISE AND TAILORED SOLUTIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL FAMILIES

At Stonehage Fleming, we provide bespoke wealth management solutions for multi-generational and multi-jurisdictional

With over five decades of experience, we understand the unique challenges families face, offering strategies to protect assets, manage risks, and navigate global expansion. Our open-architecture platform enables seamless collaboration with a family’s existing advisors, ensuring a holistic approach that aligns with their long-term goals.

At every stage of a family’s journey, we are their trusted advisor, helping them navigate complex international challenges and supporting them through transitions, preserving legacies and safeguarding wealth across the generations.

For more information and a discussion with our team, please contact enquiries@stonehagefleming.com

Creating Sustainable Excellence Susie Hillier on the Role of Culture, Collaboration and Integrated Expertise

Winner

• Multi Family Office over £3 Billion Assets Under Management

• Wealth Planning

Susie Hillier Partner - Head of Wealth Planning Stonehage Fleming

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

At Stonehage Fleming, excellence is embedded in the way we serve clients and collaborate as a team. Our culture is driven by long term relationships, transparency, technical expertise and a deep sense of responsibility for the families we advise. The Wealth Planning team consistently demonstrates these values through its commitment to delivering high quality, independent advice and its ability to adapt solutions to each client’s unique needs.

We also cultivate excellence through careful talent development, team based working, and consistent investment in technical capability. The result is a culture where trusted relationships, rigorous standards and client first thinking define high performance.

What role has collaboration – internally or with external partners – played in your response?

Collaboration is fundamental to our model. Internally, Wealth Planning operates not as a standalone advisory function but as an integrated part of the wider Stonehage Fleming Group. This means our clients benefit from coordinated expertise across family office services, fiduciary structuring, governance and succession planning, philanthropy strategy and investment management. Advisers routinely work alongside internal tax specialists, legal teams and international colleagues to ensure that clients receive the most comprehensive and cohesive solutions possible.

Externally, we collaborate with clients’ existing tax advisers, lawyers and other professional partners to ensure that all aspects of their affairs are fully aligned. Our advisers often act as central coordinators, bringing together multiple professional perspectives to deliver clarity, simplicity and strategic direction for families with complex, multi jurisdictional interests.

How do you identify and develop future leaders within your organisation?

As a relationship driven business, we look for individuals who embody the firm’s values: integrity, long term thinking and a genuine dedication to supporting families across generations.

Talent development includes structured professional training, regulatory development, mentorship from senior advisers, and exposure to increasingly complex client scenarios. The Wealth Planning team’s recent growth (welcoming five new members in the last 12 months, including two advisers) demonstrates our strong pipeline of rising professionals. New team members are integrated into a collaborative environment where knowledge sharing and joint problem solving are part of daily practice, accelerating their development.

We also create opportunities for emerging leaders to contribute to cross disciplinary client work, collaborate with international colleagues and engage in long term succession and governance projects – strengthening their ability to think holistically, communicate clearly and develop enduring client relationships.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

Winning this award is a powerful affirmation of the trust clients place in us and the high standard of advice delivered by the Wealth Planning team. The consistently positive feedback from our clients highlights our strong relationships, clear communication and the depth of our technical expertise. Receiving recognition from WealthBriefing validates these insights and reinforces our commitment to delivering best in class service.

Looking forward, the team will use this recognition to continue to build trust, foster innovation and ensure alignment with the firm’s values. Above all, it reminds us that excellence is earned every day through the relationships we build and the quality of service we provide.

Challenges of Today and Tomorrow: How Symphony Drives Security and Collaboration in Wealth Management

Symphony is a communication and markets technology company powered by interconnected platforms: messaging, voice, directory and analytics. Our modular technology – built for global finance – enables over 1,400 institutions to ensure data security, navigate complex regulatory compliance and optimise business interactions.

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

Symphony addresses pressing challenges in wealth management. Recently, the firm launched AI Agent Studio, enabling institutions to quickly create and deploy AI agents across internal and external workflows. Leveraging best-in-class compliance infrastructure, firms can automate tasks while retaining data ownership and control. The studio integrates with Symphony’s Confidential Cloud platform, launched in 2025, combining cloud scalability with security previously achievable only on-premise. Symphony’s Microsoft Teams interoperability lets users connect with external counterparties, reach customers on WhatsApp and other channels, and link internal Teams and Symphony Messaging users, expanding bot workflows beyond Symphony Messaging for greater impact.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

Symphony has been serving global financial markets for 12 years, where innovation in technology and excellence in service are paramount. We believe that Symphony is a place for innovators. We are a collaborative workforce reinforced by strong leadership and a desire to succeed. The diversity of our employees brings creativity and bright ideas to complex problems. Our employees work together effectively and seamlessly, even when faced with challenges, and lean in to solve problems and delight customers internally or externally. We adapt quickly to customer needs with confidence and resiliency. We are where markets connect and collaborate, #WeAreSymphony.

• Client Communications

What role has collaboration - either internally or with external partners - played in your success?

A key aspect of Symphony’s offerings is workflow collaboration, both internally across front, middle and back offices and externally with other firms through secure channels. Symphony has always worked tirelessly, in collaboration with its investors and long-term customers, to promote and build a community that thrives on connectivity and collaboration. This focus, coupled with strong partnerships that provide critical market solutions, such as TradingView and Taskize, has allowed Symphony to grow into a technology provider synonymous with collaboration.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

Modern technology and workflows are advancing rapidly, creating a complex environment of data fragmentation and permanent cybersecurity challenges. This presents unique challenges for firms, particularly in navigating the increasingly complex regulatory landscape and in implementing agentic AI. Coupled with the essential need to share this data through secure, regulated channels, wealth management faces a distinctive set of challenges. Symphony's strategy focuses on anticipating market needs by developing solutions for new and growing challenges in secure communications and workflow collaboration.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

Winning this award is a tremendous honor for Symphony, validating our initial recognition within the wealth management industry. It validates that our products are highly effective in addressing the client communication needs amid an evolving regulatory and technological landscape. Leveraging this award will demonstrate to wealth management leaders that Symphony is a vital solution for firms seeking to communicate with their clients on their preferred channels, without compromising security or compliance.

Collaboration at the Core: Delivering Seamless Private Wealth Advice Across Global Markets

What role has collaboration - either internally or with external partners - played in your success?

We offer a full-service, multi-jurisdictional service for private wealth clients, so collaboration is essential to our success – including within specialist teams, across the wider London firm, internationally, and with other service providers assisting our clients.

It simply couldn't be achieved without it, and it is more important than ever in a world where people and capital are more mobile than ever before. The constant feedback we get from clients is that they want a seamlessly integrated legal platform across the markets they are in. So that's the UK, US, EU and, increasingly, the Middle East.

Our upcoming merger will continue to build on this, creating one of the largest Private Wealth practices in the world, serving UHNW families across 20 offices in world's critical wealth centres. Our clients rely on us to provide coordinated advice on complex international mandates; collaboration is key to our success in delivering that.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

People, capital and structures are increasingly internationally mobile, and we need to be able to respond to that with flexibility and speed constantly churning undercurrents of geopolitical

Winner

Private Client Law Firm

Damian Bloom Partner and Head of Private Client Taylor Wessing

uncertainty have driven many family offices to diversify geographically in an attempt to hedge against risk. We've seen European families establishing a US presence for investment access and political stability, and vice versa. We've seen a flood of capital to and from the Middle East, which has now seen more dreadful war and strife, generating ongoing displacement and uncertainty for those affected. The increasing complexity of needs means family offices need a legal partner with breadth and depth across services and jurisdictions.

Our success is driven by the fact that what we offer now – and even more so post-merger – is exactly what clients are after: that full-service firm that can work for you on whatever practice area you require, in the places where you need them, understanding the interplay of local and international nuances and requirements.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

It's always great to be recognised for your achievements and the hard work that goes into them, and I think the team can be very proud of ourselves. But we're not going to rest on our laurels. I want this to spur us on and for us to continue to be consistently excellent. It is an exciting time at our firm and in the wider sector.

Our upcoming merger means that we're about to go from strength to strength, creating an uninterrupted cross-border service spanning wealth hubs including Miami, New York, Chicago, LA, Dallas, Dubai and London – a service that will be unique in the market.

Infinite Ambition: Redefining Wealth Management in Ireland

Launched in 2023, Unio Wealth Management is a leading Irish wealth management firm, backed by Great West Lifeco through Irish Life Group, with approximately €4 billion in assets under advisement.

Unio is reshaping wealth management in Ireland by combing personalised advice with progressive practices, including holistic planning and digital engagement, to deliver exceptional outcomes to its clients.

How do you cultivate a culture that consistently drives excellence and high performance?

At Unio, our culture of excellence is grounded in a clear set of shared values that guide how we work every day. Our valuesUncompromising Client Commitment, Noble Endeavour, Infinite Ambition and One Unio – sit at the heart of everything we do. They ensure decisions are consistently made in clients’ best interests, keep us focused on doing the right thing, and challenge us to continually raise standards.

High performance is fostered through collaboration and shared accountability, we believe success is collective, not individual, and that strong teamwork drives better outcomes.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

Over the next five years, wealth management will be shaped by evolving client expectations, market volatility and rapid digital change. As a significant intergenerational wealth transfer takes place, a younger cohort of clients will hold more wealth and bring different expectations – seeking more convenience and a more digitally enabled experience.

Unio is well positioned to meet these challenges by remaining

• Most Innovative Wealth Management Model Winner

Unio Wealth Management

agile and adaptable, forward looking and responsive. The business is actively investing in digital enhancements that enable a digitally hybrid, blended experience – combining intuitive technology with trusted, relationship led advice. This positions Unio to deliver a future ready client experience that evolves with changing expectations, while maintaining the clarity, trust and advice quality clients value most.

What does winning this award mean to your firm?

Winning this award is a strong endorsement of our purpose, values and the progressive way we serve clients. It recognises the collective effort across the business and reflects our people’s commitment to delivering high quality, client centred advice, underpinned by innovation and continuous improvement.

This recognition builds confidence, reinforces pride in our culture and values, and motivates our teams to continue raising the bar.

Where do you draw inspiration for innovation - within the wealth industry or beyond it?

We draw inspiration for innovation both within the wealth management industry and beyond it. As part of the Great West Lifeco group, Unio benefits from shared insight and experience from businesses across Canada and the United States – markets that are widely regarded as being ahead in areas such as digital enablement, client engagement and scalable advice models. These learnings help shape how we continue to evolve our proposition in a way that is progressive yet tailored to the needs of the Irish market.

Beyond wealth management, we also look to other client centric and professional services industries that excel in simplicity, user experience and effective use of technology. These perspectives influence how we design processes, enhance the client journey and support advisers, ensuring innovation remains practical, purposeful and focused on delivering better outcomes.

Integrated Expertise for International Families

Headquartered in Geneva and with more than 30 offices worldwide, UBP is one of the world’s largest family-owned private banks, focused exclusively on wealth and asset management for private and institutional clients. UBP manages CHF 184.5 billion in client assets and is one of the best-capitalised banks in its sector, with strong financial foundations and a robust balance sheet.

At the WealthBriefing European Awards 2026, UBP received two distinctions recognising key areas of its Wealth Management offering: 'Best Private Bank – Wealth Planning Team' and 'Best Wealth Management Business Servicing the Nordic Region'

The Nordic desk at Union Bancaire Privée (Europe) S.A. in Luxembourg serves highand ultra-high-net-worth Swedish, Danish and Finnish clients across the globe and comprises a dedicated team of more than 30 professionals. Alongside this regional capability, UBP’s Estate Planning and Family Wealth Solutions team provides tailored advisory services for wealth transfer strategies, tax suitability, mobility planning, liquidity events, and family governance in complex cross-border contexts.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

A key element is the ability to combine specialised expertise across the Bank. Many clients operate internationally, creating complexity in areas such as taxation, succession planning, governance, and investment management. By encouraging close collaboration between relationship managers, investment specialists, and wealth planners, UBP can address these challenges in a coordinated way, while keeping solutions tailored to clients’ objectives.

Can you share a story that best illustrates your team’s commitment to client service or problem-solving?

In one recent case, a Nordic client sought to consolidate assets within discretionary portfolio management mandates while also reviewing longer-term succession considerations. Our process involves close coordination between the relationship manager, investment specialists, and wealth planners from the start. Investment expertise ensured portfolio construction aligned with the client’s objectives and risk profile, while wealth planning specialists addressed cross-border tax and succession considerations, resulting in a coordinated long-term solution. This integrated, holistic approach is why the client has chosen UBP.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

As clients’ financial situations become more international and sophisticated, combining investment management performance with properly and smartly navigating the complexities of cross-border connections will remain essential. By continuing to invest in specialist teams and maintaining a collaborative culture, UBP aims to provide solutions that support clients’ long-term financial objectives.

What does winning this award mean to your firm, and how will you use this recognition going forward?

By recognising the trust clients place in us and the commitment of teams across the Bank to delivering coordinated solutions in increasingly complex international environments, these awards validate our expertise, capabilities, and dedication. An endorsement by a prestigious organisation like WealthBriefing is a helpful indicator of value for clients, and therefore a powerful calling card for us.

Bertrand Binggeli - Head of Estate Planning & Family Wealth Solutions

Peter Eddysson - Head of Wealth Management Sweden & Finland Union Bancaire Privée

Building the Data Foundation for the AI-Driven Wealth Management Era

Artur Kluz CEO WealthArc AG

• Client Reporting

What does winning this award mean to your firm?

Winning this award validates our belief that great reporting starts with high-quality data. Accurate, timely, and transparent modern reporting is only possible when portfolio data is clean, reconciled, and consistently structured. For WealthArc, this recognition reinforces our mission to build the trusted data foundation layer that enables wealth managers to generate better insights, scale globally, and unlock the full potential of AI in the years ahead.

What role has collaboration played in your success?

Collaboration with clients and partners is central to our development philosophy. Rather than delivering technology in isolation, we build global data infrastructure alongside firms operating in highly complex, multi-custodian environments.

Our partnership with Octogone, an international EAM operating across multiple jurisdictions and relying on more than 50 custodian relationships worldwide, illustrates this approach. Together, we built a unified data backbone that consolidates global custodian data and enables a single portfolio view across entities. As Octogone CEO Ivan Peruffo explained: “Very few solutions in the market genuinely connect to US and global custodians at the scale we need. WealthArc’s breadth of custodian coverage lets us consolidate clients across entities and serve them seamlessly worldwide.”

Can you share a story that best illustrates your team’s commitment to client service or problem-solving?

A strong example comes from our long-standing partnership with Winvest Asset Management, a Swiss independent wealth manager managing asset across multiple custodians. Before implementing WealthArc, the firm relied on legacy systems and manual reconciliation processes that limited scalability and innovation.

By working closely with their team, we implemented a unified, cloud-native solution that connects custodians and automates data consolidation and reconciliation workflows. The result was measurable efficiency improvements and operational clarity across the firm. As Stefan Rammelmeyer, CEO of Winvest Asset Management, noted: “WealthArc gives us the confidence that our data is reliable, our workflows are efficient, and our compliance is rock solid.”

What has been the most impactful innovation your firm introduced recently, and how has it shaped client outcomes or internal efficiency?

We developed AI agents that enhance data engineering across wealth management, focusing on data quality, global feed development, and advanced analytics. By embedding AI into the data pipeline, we turn fragmented portfolio data into reliable intelligence, improving accuracy, scaling operations, and freeing teams to focus on advisory and strategic investing.

What are the key challenges you foresee in wealth management over the next five years, and how are you positioning your business to meet them?

A major challenge in wealth management over the next five years will be turning fragmented, multi-custodian data into scalable, AI-ready infrastructure. Firms that succeed will be those with strong data foundations for AI and advanced analytics.

WealthArc is addressing this by expanding the global reach of the WealthArc Data Box, enhancing automated data processing and analytics, and aiming to build more than 1,000 next-generation data feeds worldwide.

By delivering trusted, reconciled portfolio data at scale, we help wealth managers adopt AI confidently, generate better insights, and operate in a more data-driven global industry.

A New Entrant in the Core Banking System Market for Private Banks in Switzerland

What sets you apart from your peers and why?

WIZE by TeamWork, the all-in-one Wealth & Asset Management solution, is one of the fastest growing WealthTech companies in Switzerland historically dedicated to External Asset Managers (EAM), Family Offices (FO), Fund managers and Pension funds.

Since 2025, WIZE also exists in a full Front to Back Core Banking System version for Private Banks and Securities Firms.

This is a major move for WIZE in the Swiss Private Banking industry since, to our knowledge, the last time a new Core Banking package arrived on this market was Avaloq, 25 years ago…

We are therefore extremely excited to bring Private Banks a major innovation: the capability to manage private clients non-deposited portfolios in addition to the classical management of deposited assets. WIZE is indeed the first ever Core Banking System that will natively allow Private Banks to optimize their cost/income ratio by enabling classical costs savings thanks to a higher automation level but more importantly creating opportunities of new sources of revenue by offering Wealth Management mandates to non-deposited private clients.

This new operational capability in the Private Client market will be a key element to reduce risks and higher revenue of Private Banks when new Relationship Managers will be hired since statistics show that, on average, they only succeed to transfer 30 to 50% of their clients’ assets in the new custodian bank. With WIZE, they will be able to offer Wealth Management mandates to all their clients while only a part will transfer their assets in custody.

Does it mean a revolution for WIZE by TeamWork with a full focus on this market?

No, absolutely not, this is simply a natural evolution!

Our historical core market is to offer a wealth & asset management platform to External Asset Managers who need to be connected to multiple custody banks. This will not change for us as, with connectivity to 250+ booking centres of custodian banks and 30+ trading rooms of brokers or banks in Straight Through Processing, we benefit from a large scope of functionalities to serve these clients, and we continuously invest in the development of new functionalities to enforce our competitive advantage.

At WIZE by TeamWork, we simply carefully listen to our clients and analyse their change requests in our weekly product committee. We already have Private Bank clients for more than 10 years using WIZE as a Front Office system connected to their Core Banking System. They knew our custodian Securities Firms clients had the possibility to manage deposited and non-deposited assets for already more than 10 years too and this capability is now also a very appealing source of revenue for Private Banks. We therefore accepted this challenge and planned the development of these new functionalities over multiple years with our first Private Bank client successfully migrated on the WIZE full Core Banking System on 1st January 2025 in Zurich.

This great achievement from our teams offers new opportunities for WIZE by TeamWork but we will continue to be very active on our historical External Asset Managers core market as its growth in Switzerland, UK, Singapore, Luxembourg and Middle East is very impressive.

Private Banking Beyond Products: Ziraat Kat ı l ı m’s Personalised Growth Strategy

What Are Your Objectives in Private Banking?

At Ziraat Katılım, we do not limit our private banking approach to the provision of financial products and services alone. Our aim is to offer high-income and high-net-worth clients a personalised and sustainable banking experience that addresses their needs from multiple dimensions.

Established in 2015 as Türkiye’s first state-owned participation bank, Ziraat Katılım operates with a model that supports the real economy and develops client-focused solutions in line with the principles of participation finance. In this context, our Bank has been honoured with an award at the WealthBriefing European Awards 2026 for its private banking practices.

What Is the Most Impactful Innovation You Have Recently Introduced?

We approach our private banking services with a holistic perspective. Accordingly, we structure portfolio management, participation-based investment products, bespoke fund solutions, and financing offerings in line with the specific needs of our clients.

In addition, we have enhanced our service processes through initiatives such as remote account opening for international clients and the acceleration of tax identification number issuance. These developments have contributed to improvements in both client experience and operational efficiency.

How Do You Ensure Sustainable Performance and a Quality-Oriented Culture?

While shaping our operating model, we consider client expectations, sector dynamics, and the priorities of the Turkish economy together.

Facilitating access to financing for the real sector remains one of our key priorities. At the same time, we place strong emphasis on fostering a working environment that supports collaboration,

Winner

• Private Bank - Client Initiative

Ahmet Guney - Head of Private Banking Department at Ziraat Katılım Bankası and his team received an award at the WealthBriefing European Awards 2026.

knowledge sharing, and a shared sense of purpose within the organisation. We believe this approach plays a critical role in the sustainable enhancement of service quality.

Could You Share an Example of Your Team’s Approach to Client Service?

Our private banking team operates with a multilingual structure in order to effectively serve clients from different geographies. Thanks to team members who are proficient in multiple languages, we are able to better understand client needs and streamline solution processes.

In addition, regional coaching practices developed across branches support internal knowledge sharing and contribute to the continuous improvement of service processes.

Furthermore, we deliver our private banking services through dedicated “Corner” branches, offering a more exclusive service model. In these spaces, clients are served by their assigned portfolio managers in a calm environment where privacy is prioritized.

What Does This Award Mean to You?

This award is meaningful for us as it represents the recognition of our efforts on an international platform.

At the same time, we see it as a valuable reference point that encourages us to continuously review and further enhance our service processes.

What Inspires Your Approach to Innovation?

At the core of our approach to innovation lies the accurate understanding of client expectations. Developing solutions that respond to the evolving needs of our clients is one of our primary focus areas.

In addition, we closely follow international developments and practices across different sectors in order to continuously refine and update our service model.

The Fourteenth WealthBriefing European Awards Winners 2026

EUROPEAN WEALTH MANAGEMENT CATEGORIES

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Wealth Management Business - Central or Eastern European Region

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Time for some real talk!

The essential is never overstated

INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT CATEGORIES

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Secure Your Family's Future

WEALTH MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY CATEGORIES (VENDORS)

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Innovative Client Solution B2B

Innovative Family Office Technology Solution

Change Management Process/ Best Implementation of a Technology Solution

Client Investment Application

Innovative use of Artificial Intelligence

Innovative Wealthtech Solution B2B

Most Innovative Fintech or Wealthtech Solution

Best Technology Outsourcing Solution

WEALTH MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY CATEGORIES (IN-HOUSE)

Innovative Client Solution

Innovative use of Artificial Intelligence

AUTOMATED SOURCE OF WEALTH VERIFICATION

AI-powered technology to automate due diligence about the existence, plausibility and evidence of client wealth

smartKYC’s solution automates end-to-end Source of Wealth and Journey to Wealth verification using AI-driven corroboration and generative narratives, delivering credible, regulator-ready documentation with complete transparency.

Data Collection

Structured client-declared wealth eventsemployment, business exits, inheritance, property, investments

AI Corroboration

Cross-check events with salary benchmarks, real estate records, company registries, and media coverage

Narrative Generation

AI creates clear, regulator-ready wealth narratives with full source traceability

GET IN TOUCH

Website: smartkyc.com

Email: info@smartkyc.com

Key Features & Benefits

Purpose-Built for Private Banking

Designed specifically for HNW/UHNW SoW and JoW compliance requirements

Multi-Source Validation

Cross-checks declared data with public benchmarks and registries

Fully Explainable

Every fact sourced, logged, and transparent for regulator scrutiny

Generative AI Summaries

Creates audit-ready narratives in plain English automatically

Periodic Refresh

Enrich the client wealth profile with new wealth events

LEADERSHIP AND INDIVIDUAL BASED CATEGORIES