The service will combine “strategic partnerships” from within NatWest Group – Coutts’ parent bank - and relationships with external providers, under one roof.

Coutts yesterday formally announced that it is re-shaping its private office under the moniker of Coutts Family Office. 

The service will combine “strategic partnerships” from within NatWest Group – Coutts’ parent bank – and relationships with external providers, under one roof.

“When we sat down as a team to discuss the evolution of the UHNW market both here in the UK and overseas, it was apparent that by bringing together the best of the bank and by developing strategic external partnerships we could build on the already-excellent Coutts offering to create something we believe is unrivalled in the industry,” Warren Thompson, head of Family Office & UHNW, CFO, said. 

CFO offers the bank’s wealthiest clients specific investments, tax and inheritance planning and help with philanthropy ambitions. 

The new unit manages around £5 billion ($6.84 billion) of assets; Coutts wants to grow that figure through investing in strategic partnerships with external providers in order to improve what the team can offer, it said.

The bank said its partnership with BlackRock, and recent pact with London-based fintech, Flagstone – developing a cash deposit platform – gives clients access to interest rates from a curated range of term deposit products provided by a panel of selected third-party banks.

“It is vital that we continue to analyse and invest in the best possible ways of managing our clients’ money. The new partnership with Flagstone means that clients will benefit significantly from even greater variety,” Thompson said.

"Some 34 people work in the family office business of Coutts, catering to 275 families. Each family will have a team of three or four with additional support such as portfolio managers,” a spokesperson told this publication. “This is all dependent on how best we structure the family’s office at Coutts.”