Sir Keith Mills sticks with his vow to sue Coutts

The comments of the FSA are equally applicable to many other, so-called, wealth managers, not just Coutts. From my experience, many "wealth managers" are just not intellectually up to the job. They are salesmen who, often, do not understand their function. They seem to believe that "stuffing" clients into funds/stocks which generate the largest commission is good business. When it all turns sour the client ends up with the short end of the stick and the boy saleman walks away with the commission/bonus.

Please explain to me what the difference is between a "wealth manager" and a snake oil salesman!

Well, yes Adam. I know eactly why you have posted the comment and I understand your frustration. WM is a much abused term and many WM's are nothing of the sort, they are 'asset managers' with no skill or intent to provide proper financial planning. At worst they are spotty youths at the local bank offering'WM' services if you have an eye-watering £10k to invest, or indeed snake oil salesmen (or both).True wealth management is management of a client's wealth, that is to say the overall, strategic long-term management and planning of a client's wealth and this advice and service proposition involves a genuine commitment by both parties that the client will pay and the adviser will deliver. In our case, our fees are charged as a percentage of 'investable assets', but our advice is applicable across their whole wealth not just the investment portfolio. This long-term relationship ensures that the interests of the client and adviser are very closely aligned. In our business, we charge our fees half yearly in arrears, and because we are wholly fee-based, paid directly by the client with commission forming no part of our remuneration,the significance of arrears is that if we don't provide the first-class service and advice we promise, we don't get paid.

By the way, although I have some sympathy with Keith Mills in that he was flogged a dog, I understand he invested £65m, so he deserved to lose every penny and should probably receive a good kicking (if Mrs Mills has not already done so).

Best wishes

Neil

So how dose one know... if the person you are introduced to ie; your new "wealth manager" is a person thats up for the task..

who out there has their money being looked after by Coutts.. comments please.

Hello Eric. Of course there are no guarantees, but the same applies to every walk of life. Do your research, ask questions and seek referrals from those that already use the firm.

Neil

In my experience large investors do not wish to have the degree of diversification that large investments necessitate to even out short term volatility. This is particularly true of self made men who wish to understand the workings of the investments they are making and do not have the time or inclination to sift though dozens of different fund profiles. Consequently a one solution product is attractive to them and when it goes wrong they can hardly complain. A £65million investment in one fund is acceptable if it relates to say 10% of the overall portfolio and then the client should have course be briefed of all possible outcomes. If this wasn't the case then of course he has a case for compensation.

Any other existing Coutts clients out there....satisfied or not with something to comment about the service they have received re investing of your money ??

The bond went wrong? Is this correct or sloppy journalism? Normally bonds have a maturity date, government bonds for example, cash in before then and you can make a loss.. Basic investment knowledge required here! Am I missing something? It seems we have not yet reached the maturity date for these bonds.. That seems to me to be the time to consider how good the investment was...

I have been following Sir Keith's case against Coutts as I was, until recently, a Coutts client, both in private banking and wealth management.

Those clients were clearly misled by Coutts, though the investors were also victims of their own greed.

My own experiences with the bank have been less than satisfactory and I think in their rush to grow they have lost some of their core values and cut corners. The personal service from the private bankers is one crucial area which has suffered.

The discretionary wealth management works by classifying people by risk and time frame. To that end, investors in say the category of wealth enhancement are all treated the same. To me, there is something fundamentally wrong with this as it makes very broad assumptions about investors. The category you sit in can be changed as your appetite to risk changes.

The wealth manager (private banker) is the contact you have who makes suggestions via a quarterly meeting. Your money is invested by someone working to one of the three models (low, medium & high risk). You don't know these people and they have no relationship with an individual customer.

To be fair to Coutts they are trying to get back to what they once excelled at, as well as overhauling systems. You cannot help but feel (clearly see) that RBS has used the bank as a cash cow over the years and failed to invest the money required to compete with other wealth management banks as well as retaining the high level of service that was implied by being a customer.

Things will change with the appointment of Rory Tapner but the fine represents a huge wrap on the knuckles and exposes their failings in wealth management.