METHODOLOGY

The Top Private Banks and Wealth Managers awards are prepared and based on research by specialist financial services research house Intellidex. This is the eighth year of the survey. We develop it further every year so that it best reflects the dynamics of the wealth management industry and to ensure that we are delivering a product that meets the needs of clients who make use of firms in the sector.

Revised format

This year we undertook a substantial revision of the methodology, for two main reasons:

1. To reduce the level of subjectivity in the judging process; and

2. To lighten the burden on participating firms.

The survey still has two main prongs: a questionnaire, completed by participating firms, and a comprehensive online client survey. More emphasis is now placed on the rankings clients give their firms in various categories.

The primary change entailed doing away with the five case studies, based on which Intellidex would judge firms’ responses to the way they would cater for archetypal clients. Instead, Intellidex added questions to the client survey that are crafted specifically to draw out information similar to what we previously derived from the responses to the case studies.

Overall, the questions we ask clients are wide-ranging and designed to assess the various strengths and weaknesses of the private banks and wealth managers.

But the main areas of focus relate to levels of satisfaction with products, services and investment returns, and whether clients believe they are getting value for money and would recommend their service providers to others.

We also ask questions relating to why clients use private banks and wealth managers and whether their specific needs are being met.

Clients add comments about aspects not covered by our multiple-choice format questions. Here we receive some valuable insights that are used to inform the judging process.

This year 5,820 people participated in the client survey.

Judging

In terms of the overall judging, we understand that firms have different areas of focus. Thus, in our minds, the individual archetype winners — in the categories passive lump-sum investor, young professional, successful entrepreneur, wealthy executive and internationally wealthy family — are at least as important as the winners of the overall awards. If a firm is the best in the industry in its specific area of focus and does not pretend to be all things to all people, it deserves recognition for that area of excellence. If a firm does not compete in a particular market segment, we do not penalise it for not having an offering for that archetype.

In terms of the new survey structure, the bulk of the rankings are determined by clients themselves, with Intellidex assessing the firms in only a few areas. In those cases, the Intellidex score is grouped with client rankings to arrive at an overall score.

This year we introduced a new award, for the top individual financial adviser. The Intellidex judges considered nominations made by clients and chose finalists and a winner based on the motivations the clients provided.

The judges this year were Intellidex chair Stuart Theobald, GM Colin Anthony, lead analyst Orin Tambo, market research manager Heidi Dietzsch and head of strategy research Graunt Kruger.

Awards

The awards have also been revised as a result of the new survey format. We now make two overall awards, one for the big firms that are part of a larger financial institution and a separate one for the boutique operators. Top Wealth Manager of the Year Award: Large Financial Institutions category Top Wealth Manager of the Year Award: Boutique Firms category

Archetype awards:

Passive lump-sum investor Young professional Successful entrepreneur Wealthy executive Internationally wealthy family People’s Choice Award: Determined solely by client rankings, this has two categories, one for wealth management services and one for banking services.

Top Banking Services Firm: This award is determined by the client survey, based solely on transactional and lending services.

Top Individual Financial Adviser: This is an award for the top relationship manager, based on client nominations and the motivation they provide.

Intellidex is always keen to widen the survey to include more institutions. We are interested in firms that straddle the gap between wealth manager and financial adviser. We would like to include firms that meet these two criteria:

1. Exclusivity in client selection — clients must on average have investible assets of more than R3m.

2. Advice on total assets of at least R50m.

Such firms, however, will be included only if they ask to be. Intellidex includes larger firms by default. We reserve the right to determine eligibility at our sole discretion.

For more details visit www.intellidex.co.za

Lead analyst on the Top Private Banks & Wealth Managers project was Orin Tambo.