World’s Best Private Banks 2025: Global Winners

For 10 consecutive years, Global Finance has recognized the leaders and visionaries in the private banking industry through our World’s Best Private Banks awards.

While private banking’s core mission of managing the world’s fortunes with a focus on the long-term, intergenerational aspect of wealth planning has remained unchanged throughout this journey, the same cannot be said about the industry’s offerings, which have grown immensely more sophisticated and individualized.

Catering to the needs of the affluent today presents an entirely different challenge than 10 years ago. Supporting this transformation is a change in the core demographics of private banking customers, who are now younger and more diversified in gender, geography, and other factors than ever.

This year’s winners are those who have excelled at attending to these increasingly complex demands and stayed at the forefront of the private banking industry.

Perhaps more than ever, success in private banking hinges on a combination of courage, vision, and expertise. This is particularly true given the faster investment returns and higher geopolitical tensions experienced by the affluent in 2024.

For the fifth consecutive year, the global banking giant J.P. Morgan US Private Bank has excelled at adapting to shifting macroeconomic conditions, delivering best-in-breed results to its clients.

Riding the phenomenal rebound in global investing brought by improving monetary conditions and subsiding inflationary pressures, the bank saw client assets rise by 24% over the previous year, amounting to more than $2.5 trillion under supervision.

Against this backdrop, revenues posted a notable 18.5% increase from the year prior, with pretax income showing an even more significant boost of 36% year-on-year (YoY).

On the product side, the bank made significant strides in integrating advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as JPMorgan Chase’s Connect Coach and the Chase Connect mobile app into its award-winning product offerings. These include first-class risk analytics and portfolio management services that serve as a benchmark for many in the industry.

Yet, despite these fantastic advances in its products, the bank also looked for human talent, adding over 300 expert advisers to the team. As a result, the bank attracted more than 5,400 new clients. —Thomas Monteiro

Few would doubt the claims of HSBC Global Private Banking (HSBC GPB) that it possesses an “extensive network, rich experience, and solid reputation in the market,” as underpinning its ability to provide access to private equity for private bank clients.

HSBC GBP can offer private equity opportunities to customers in the primary and secondary markets, and coinvestments via its annual Vision Private Equity discretionary program, launched in 2019. The program provides investors with opportunities through a single vintage discretionary portfolio diversified by geography, sector, and strategy. For ultrahigh net worth (UHNW) clients, the bank offers access to special exclusive investment opportunities tailored to clients’ investment knowledge and risk appetite.

The latest Vision Private Equity program closed in June with $403.2 million in client commitments. Since its inception, the program has raised aggregated capital commitments of over $1.9 billion from international investors; and a seventh Vision Private Equity fund launched in November.        —Jonathan Rogers

Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) wins our award as the Best Private Bank for Women Clients not only because of its numerous strides in gender equality but also, more broadly, because of its unwavering, long-term focus on empowering women. This commitment starts with the bank’s staffing, with a 100% female leadership team and a 60% female workforce.

On the customer-offerings side, BNZ offers an unparalleled range of services tailored to women’s unique financial journeys. These include custom investment solutions and tailored financial advice from the bank’s expert financial advisers.

WealthNet, the bank’s investment portal and award-winning digital platform, ensures seamless access to clients’ portfolios and enhances financial literacy and engagement.

Moreover, initiatives like the Ivy Waters Memorial Scholarships, Quietly Powerful program, and enhanced parental leave signify the bank’s dedication to supporting women at every stage of their careers and personal lives.

BNZ’s focus on responsible investing ensures that women clients are investing in a sustainable future. This aligns with the bank’s growing preference for investments with financial returns and positive social and environmental impacts.         —TM

Africa faces a major challenge in preserving generational wealth. Glaring gaps in education and financial literacy are key contributors.

South Africa, which boasts a vibrant financial services sector, illuminates the magnitude of the problem. In 2022, financial literacy in the country stood at 51%. A staggering 70% of generational wealth is depleted by the second generation and 90% by the third. Worse still, 25% of those who inherit wealth are inadequately prepared for financial responsibility. The worries are amplified with 60% of Africa’s population being under 25.

Standard Bank has set out to change this sad state of affairs. Driven by a strong belief in the power of financial literacy for sustainable generational wealth transfer, the bank is investing heavily in financial education. For instance, the NextGen Thought Leadership equips many with basic financial literacy and leadership skills. Through education, the bank plays a critical role in bridging intergenerational wealth disparities and promoting upward mobility.   —John Njiraini

Our Best Private Bank Digital Solutions for Clients this year, BNP Paribas, is no stranger to innovation. In fact, despite the phenomenal advances in technology in 2024, this award reflects a much longer journey, leveraged by years of consistent investments in the area, through both good and challenging times.

Amid the numerous innovations released by the French banking giant, significant improvements to its already best-rated digital app have helped the bank scale its strategy of catering to the next generation of wealth.

Among these, the bank launched “MyGuide,” a digital platform designed to enhance onboarding by offering interactive digital presentations that effectively introduce potential clients to the bank’s services and capabilities. This tool is part of the bank’s broader strategy to improve user experience and streamline the client engagement process through advanced digital solutions.

The bank integrated its app with major social platforms, offering convenient and comprehensive account management.

As a result, BNP Paribas effectively doubled its share of entrepreneurial clients under the age of 40 this year and aims to grow further in this segment.        —TM

For the second year in a row, Banque Richelieu Monaco has won the Best Boutique Private Bank in the World award for leveraging its unique mixture of personalization and growth to offer its growing customer base the best tailor-made opportunities.

In a world where banking services are increasingly consumerized, the Monaco-based bank effectively continued betting on balancing a human-scale structure with competitive agility. The bank excels at catering to the needs of its high net worth (HNW) and UHNW client base.

The results speak for themselves. Amid a thriving environment for global investments, the bank increased its operating income by nearly 50% between December 2022 and June 2024 and doubled its loan book during the same period.    —TM

Over the past two years, Hana Bank has focused on delivering solutions to increasing private bank client demand through a comprehensive portfolio, digital wealth management, and specialized family office services. Early in 2024, the bank introduced the Hana Real Estate All-Care Solution. This integrated advisory service uses AI-based proprietary technology to deliver end-to-end real estate development, operation, and sales consulting.

This followed the launch of AI Wealth in March last year. This AI-powered wealth management platform utilizes extensive data analysis to make asset allocation decisions and predict market trends. By the end of 2023, the platform had attracted $279 million in new investment funds.

This year, the bank built on this enhanced, digital-enabled, portfolio-management capability by offering split-purchase exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These ETFs enable clients to buy ETFs on a split basis during price dip market-entry points. —JR

Santander Private’s long-term commitment to social responsibility gained significant momentum this year. The Spanish bank rode the global rebound in ESG investing to continue leading toward a more equal, sustainable future in its several markets.

On the social front, Santander launched several initiatives that provide education and resources to underserved communities by fostering financial literacy and inclusion, particularly in Latin American markets.

The bank also significantly expanded its range of ESG-related investment products, introducing new funds that comply with international sustainability norms and regulations. Over 80% of its global fund offerings now focus on socially responsible investments.

Finally, Santander also began reporting environmental and social metrics for clients in the US and Switzerland, enhancing transparency and insight into sustainable investments.            —TM

With over $24.4 billion in philanthropic assets and $52 billion in assets managed for nonprofit organizations, Bank of America has continued to shine as the undisputed global leader in philanthropy this year.

The secret behind the behemoth’s success is its award-winning philanthropic strategy team, each member boasting over 25 years of experience in the area to provide highly specialized advisory services without additional fees.

This has allowed the bank to continue educating and guiding wealthy donors in strategic giving—unique, specialized advisory services provided without additional fees. Over the last few years, the bank’s growth trajectory in this area has yielded more than 1,000 new relationships with foundations and endowments, increasing its offerings to clients seeking specialized services.

Among the several strides made this year, the winner in this category for the fourth time in a row made a multimillion-dollar investment in its digital grant-technology platform, which enhanced grantmaking operations for foundation clients.    —TM

Our Best Private Bank for Business Owners, PNC Private, scaled its operations after a challenging year for US regional banks by taking advantage of a more-resilient-than-expected US economy and an improving business environment.

The bank’s Hawthorn Business Owner Solutions team shone brightly, delivering tailored guidance for growing, protecting, or transitioning businesses and supporting owners through education and financial insights.

Moreover, PNC’s collaboration with strategic players such as Solebury Capital and Harris Williams help provide customers with specialized advisory services, such as merger and acquisition advice, capital market financing, and employee stock ownership plan financing evaluations—all areas seen as crucial this year amid the thriving environment.

PNC Private also promoted several family business forums throughout the year, bringing together business stakeholders for meaningful educational engagements and networking.        —TM

Despite boasting over 30 years of excellence in the field, our Best Private Bank for Sustainable Investing, J. Safra Sarasin, has set itself apart from the competition by blending experience with a forward-thinking approach.

While the bank continued to offer top-level sustainable-investment opportunities aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, its proprietary Sustainability Matrix has been the real game-changer. This matrix empowers its customers to make better decisions that align with their sustainable-investment strategy, avoiding reliance solely on third-party sustainability data.

Designed by a dedicated team of sustainability analysts, the tool is continuously refined to evaluate financially material ESG factors across all sectors, ensuring the best decision-making.

The bank has introduced two innovative investment strategies centered on strategic minerals essential for achieving net zero emissions, broadening the amount and depth of its sustainability-aligned offering.    —TM

As HNW and UHNW customers’ needs grow ever more sophisticated, Bank of America’s innovative infrastructure of services, combined with decades of excellence in wealth management, keeps proving to be a game-changer for its customers in the family office segment.

The giant bank increased its client balances globally by 24% YoY despite growing geopolitical challenges, one of the industry’s top concerns.

The bank’s proprietary CashPro For Family Office is among the best services of its kind. It enables efficient data aggregation, accounting, and treasury management, streamlining an otherwise complex, time-consuming process.

Additionally, the bank’s Family Offices division has focused on promoting several exclusive events and forums within the industry, thus connecting like-minded families in the search for solutions to the industry’s problems and unique networking opportunities.      —TM

DBS is acknowledged as a pioneer in AI and machine learning. It has built this technology into the bank’s “phygital” business model, which combines digital insights with face-to-face engagement between the front office team and clients.

The bank uses behavioral impulses—nudges are a vital component—to send targeted messages to clients and their relationship managers. Using data-driven intelligent prompts, the bank has dramatically enhanced client relationships. Last year, some 7.2 million “next-best nudges” were sent to 22,600 clients, improving performance by 6% to 62% of nudges. They resulted in a client conversation within 30 days of the nudge being sent and a 50% engagement or click rate.

Within the digital-assets sphere, DBS quickly recognized the transformative potential of tokenization in unlocking liquidity and facilitating access to typically illiquid assets via fractionalization. DBS is the first and only bank in Singapore to provide a tokenization service, digital custody service, and digital exchange as a single integrated solution for clients. —JR

Fifth Third Private Bank caters specifically to entrepreneurs through personalized investment strategies, wealth management, and trust services. It has ridden the better-than-expected momentum in the US economy.

The regional US bank recorded a revenue increase to $608.7 million, up from $516.6 million the previous year. Its Business Transition Advisory team played a pivotal role, and its gross proceeds reached a phenomenal $1 billion.

The strategy behind the success has focused on region-specific knowledge, leveraging its profound understanding of local market dynamics and regulations to provide the best solutions to entrepreneurs.

Through enhanced digital tools, clients can access sophisticated, personalized wealth management strategies on a user-friendly platform. These tools facilitate tailored solutions that address complex financial needs while offering flexibility for evolving client goals.        —TM

Santander Wealth Management & Insurance is one of the five global businesses around which the Santander Group is organized. Private banking serves more than 260,000 clients in 11 countries, with a strong presence in Latin America. It combines deep local knowledge with a global platform, providing global banking services.

In line with the growing international demand for Santander Private Banking services, particularly in Latin America, new clients can be onboarded more quickly and easily through an efficient, secure digital channel. This is essential as individuals in Latin America become wealthier and their needs become more global. They tend to increase their investments in strong currencies, such as the dollar and euro, and continue to seek new opportunities.

Santander Private Bank has added 90 new bankers to its Latin America-focused Miami office and in Mexico. The bank expects to reach €500 billion (about $525 billion) in assets under management (AUM) by 2025 and sees Latin America accounting for the bulk of that growth.        —Estela Silva

As part of a new, long-term expansion strategy, PNC Private Bank focused on attracting millennials and the affluent in the emerging market, increasing and diversifying its already best-in-class customer base.

The bank launched new digital finance tools designed to appeal to tech-savvy clients. These tools ensure seamless and intuitive access to financial services that fit contemporary digital habits.

Its flagship Hawthorn Institute for Family Success also received significant attention, helping affluent clients align family values with wealth strategies, specifically addressing the unique needs of younger, wealth-inheriting clients seeking to sustain family legacies.

PNC also emphasized business succession planning and investment strategies tailored to startup founders through new specialized offerings that cater directly to the segment’s needs.  —TM

For BTG Pactual, the next generation of investors is the ambassador of values and mission for the future, and a special program prepares them to carry the torch forward.

Future Leaders is a program going beyond traditional wealth management, delving into the intricacies of intergenerational wealth. It dissects the process, ensuring participants can manage wealth and navigate these intricacies confidently.

From understanding the intricacies of estate planning to staying current with cutting-edge trends and innovations in family leadership, BTG leaves no stone unturned. This comprehensive knowledge forms the bedrock of sound decision-making.

In short, the Future Leaders program is a testament to BTG Pactual’s unwavering dedication to empowering the custodians of wealth and legacy. With a legacy of excellence and a vision that spans generations, the bank strives to create a future path for the leaders of tomorrow. This program’s impact is evident in its transformative influence on the lives of program participants and in shaping the future of intergenerational wealth management.            —ES

With an integrated and innovative approach, Bradesco Global Private Bank positions itself as a financial dynamo and a strategic partner for its clients. It offers a segmented and highly personalized approach to clients with net worth under $1 million, structured to maximize each client’s satisfaction and financial success. The bank also has a strong consumer and retail banking presence and divisions that cater to HNW individuals. Investment advice, tax planning, and estate planning are among the services offered to these clients.

Bradesco’s team of specialists consists of 120 bankers responsible for direct client relationships, 20 daily bankers focused on new generations, 120 relationship officers dedicated to account and service management, and 40 advisers specialized in investments. Last year, the bank achieved 500 billion Brazilian reais (approximately $86 billion) in AUM, a 150% growth since 2017, representing a market share of 22% and a one-percentage-point increase.      —JR

CTBC’s Private Privilege (PP) segment, which has $5 million or more in investable assets, grew by 28% last year, with AUM powering up 23% for a 74% revenue surge. PP clients saw their portfolios gain, on average, between 5% and 10% in 2023 thanks to stringent investment advice anchored in low-to-medium-term duration high-grade bonds. Once the entry point had been finessed and high yields locked in, the segment’s portfolios benefited from the US Federal Reserve’s rate-tightening policy.

At the same time, clients could take advantage of CTBC’s growing product suite and attendant portfolio-management sophistication, and structured notes were deployed to capture returns in overseas equity markets.

New products offered to PP clients in 2023 included local bonds and ETFs, alternative investments curated by Pictet TR-Atlas Titan and Schroders, and building on the existing comprehensive offerings, including publicly offered funds, overseas bonds, and dual currency investment.           —JR

Serving an astonishing 30% of the world’s billionaires, Citi Private Bank remained the undisputed leader among UHNW customers again this year, earning an honorable mention in our award.

Despite the sector’s historical penetration, the bank kept pushing for even more growth and, as of the second quarter of 2024, boasted around 14,000 UHNW clients.

To stay ahead of the competition, the New York–headquartered giant launched several tailored investment solutions this year, including advanced asset allocation and risk management strategies that address the specific needs of HNW individuals. The bank has also ramped up investments focused on appealing to a new generation of wealthy clients, such as the Next Gen program, which provides networking opportunities, educational resources, and events to prepare new generations for leadership and wealth management.