You can bank on this section! (Ahem)
Some banks like their clients to have at least several hundred thousand pounds in liquid assets or several million in fixed assets in order to bank with them.
If a donor supports your organisation through a regular gift, their bank details will be held on your database. Searching for specific private banks will provide you with an instant list of wealthy prospects and an indication of their wealth in the absence of other pointers. A variation on this is to list all your regular givers by sort code and bank name and, working on the principle that rarity equals private bank, examine those banks/sortcodes that appear the least. If your search brings up a sort code but not the bank to which it relates, use the bank details validator to identify it.
You can also ask your Gift Manager or equivalent person to look out for any cheques from donors who bank with one of the private banks. This should provide you with a regular (although not necessarily frequent!) source of new prospects.
NOTE: Do bear in mind that a private bank account is merely an indicator of wealth and not a guarantee of wealth; although private banks undoubtedly like their clients to be wealthy, for certain clients they will not turn them away if they are not. How do you know which is which? Further research, dear reader, further research.
Listed below are some private banks with their 'entry requirements' (taken from the relevant website or media reports). The list is not exahustive, as there are just too many out there, so if you get a cheque from a bank with a funny name and it's not on the list, I would check it out on the old interweb, as it just may be a private bank.
Adam & Co
22 Charlotte Square
Edinburgh
EH2 4DF
£200,000 income or £1m in investable assets required.
Child & Co
1 Fleet Street
London
EC4Y1BD
£200,000 in investable assets required.
Coutts & Co
440 Strand
London
WC2R 0QS
£500,000 in investable assets required (or between £1m and £5m in fixed assets according to various media reports).
Drummonds
49 Charing Cross
London
SW1A 2DX
£200,000 in investable assets required.
Adam & Co, Child & Co, Coutts & Co & Drummonds are all owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, which also (rather unnecessarily, one would have thought) has its own private banking arm.
Royal Bank of Scotland Private Banking
36 St Andrew Square
Edinburgh
EH2 2YB
£100,000 in an RBS account and/or £200,000 of investable assets required.
C Hoare & Co
37 Fleet Street
London
EC4P 4DQ
According to some media reports, there is no minimum level of liquid assets to qualify, but according to a report in The Times (21/04/07) they require a £250,000 income and investable assets in excess of £500,000. Either way, anyone who banks with Hoare & Co is worthy of further investigation. Potential customers are interviewed to determine their suitability and prospects, and only upon recommendation by two existing customers.
Arbuthnot Latham and Co
Arbuthnot House
20 Ropemaker Street
London
EC2Y 9AR
Unknown, but further research warranted for anyone with an account at this old and traditional City bank.
Rathbone Brothers
159 New Bond Street
London
W1S 2UD
Accept clients with £100,000+ of investable assets, but also cater for "family groups with more than £10 million of investable assets."
HSBC Private Bank
31 Hill Street
London
W1J 5LS
£1million in investable assets required.
Lloyds TSB Private Banking
50 Grosvenor Street
London
W1K 3LF
£1 million in investable assets or a salary of £250,000+.
Barclays Private Bank
43 Brook Street
London
W1K 4HJ
£500,000 in investable assets required.
Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Private Banking
One Hanover Street
London
W1S 1AX
Unknown, although they clearly deal with very wealthy individuals; the minimum loan for a mortgage is £500,000 (with no maximum) and the minimum loan for a yacht is £4,000,000. (Yeah, I know what you're thinking: 'Maybe I'll go along to my bank manager and ask for a loan for a yacht.' Go on - I dare you.)
Page updated: 15/04/08