Wealth managers adapt to generational shift, booking-centre diversification and rising demand for resilient advice

Client conversations shifting from wealth creation to legacy protection, the rise of booking-centre diversification as a response to geopolitical fragmentation, the need to rebuild investment advice around client needs rather than products, and the talent attributes required for the next generation of private banking formed the core of the panel at the HKMA Investment Forum in Hong Kong on 4 November 2026. Moderated by Harshika Patel, Chief Executive Officer, Asia Private Bank at J.P. Morgan, the discussion brought together Giorgio Pradelli of EFG International, Laurent Ramsey of Pictet Group and Christel Rendu de Lint of Vontobel.

Christel Rendu de Lint argued that the most consequential decision remains asset allocation matched to the client’s needs at a given moment and for the foreseeable future. After a long period of abundant liquidity that lifted most asset classes together, followed by years of elevated uncertainty, the tough questions around building resilient multi-asset portfolios are still too often under-addressed. She described the product as a business card that demonstrates skill, not the core of the offering. The critical capabilities sit with the people who first meet the client, extract genuine needs and match those needs to the right investment expertise.

Giorgio Pradelli identified two structural forces reshaping the industry: technology and artificial intelligence, and the large-scale transfer of wealth to new generations over the coming decades. EFG is responding by moving away from the traditional model of hiring only experienced, entrepreneurial relationship officers who often believed they knew everything and preferred to work alone. The firm is building teams in which the banker acts as orchestrator across asset classes, investing in technology platforms (including BlackRock’s Aladdin for advisory) and placing greater emphasis on brand, which matters more to the next generation than to their parents. Conversations with next-generation clients, he said, tend to focus on wealth solutions, structuring and cross-border considerations and are different in character from those held with earlier generations.

Laurent Ramsey and Christel Rendu de Lint observed that geopolitical fragmentation has moved client conversations beyond diversifying investments to diversifying booking centres. Ramsey described the need to offer genuine optionality between service centres and booking centres so that clients can hedge jurisdictional risk. Families based in Asia may book in Hong Kong or Switzerland; European clients may book in Hong Kong; some American clients now consider European centres. Rendu de Lint characterised booking-centre diversification as the ultimate form of diversification available to ultra-high-net-worth families: if the custodian and jurisdiction do not protect the assets, the underlying investments become secondary. She stressed that the rise of multiple centres is complementary rather than zero-sum, because clients use different centres for different purposes and the overall pool of wealth under management continues to expand.

I think if we compare this part of the world to Europe, in Europe, we’re busy trying to stay rich. In Asia, the focus was on creating wealth.

Laurent Ramsey, Pictet

Giorgio Pradelli emphasised client choice and complementarity among centres. He noted that competition among booking locations has intensified and that the race remains open.

Ramsey also observed a related driver: in some jurisdictions governments are actively making themselves less attractive to wealth, under the mistaken assumption that capital does not move. Wealth today moves more easily than in the past, reinforcing the need for private banks to provide flexible booking options.

On talent, Ramsey emphasised that trust remains central and is built through expertise, intimacy, reliability and alignment of interest. Future private bankers will need strong emotional intelligence and the ability to create genuine client intimacy. Artificial intelligence cannot yet supply that trust. He also stressed the value of bankers who can say no to clients once needs are properly understood, and who can continually remind clients that investing is about time rather than timing. Rendu de Lint agreed that technical expertise is necessary but not sufficient. The attributes that matter most are curiosity, the willingness to ask difficult questions, and the readiness to step outside personal comfort zones in service of the client. In an environment where generative tools can supply many answers, the capacity to surface what is not known becomes more valuable.