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The demands on relationship managers are increasing and yet their reputation is not what it used to be. Julius Baer’s Andreas Feller was looking for a remedy. Here’s what he found.

«A relationship manager must like working with people. That's essential,» said Andreas Feller, who’s in charge of the richest Swiss clients at private bank Julius Baer. «This is a prerequisite that has grown even more important today.»

Empathy is hard to acquire, but most private banks can evidently get better in how they treat their clients. Apart from the quality of care theirs is also a question of consistency, of not letting individual relationship managers decide how far they go to meet the needs of a client.

Plenty of Role Models

There are many examples to serve as model for banks such as Zurich-based Julius Baer. «The hospitality industry certainly is one of the examples that we have,» Feller said in an interview with finews.com. Still, he didn't make his bankers make the beds at a hotel in their latest training session.

But, in a pilot program with private Hirslanden clinic in Zurich, 50 team members in small groups took their turn to spend a day at the hospital.

Eye-Opening Experience

«The cooperation with Hirslanden was an eye-opener. It is not only us who are undergoing change and have to master more administrative tasks,» Feller said. Others face similar challenges, including the medical staff of hospitals – the so-called gods in white.

At high-end hospitals such as Hirslanden, the wealthy private clientele is being pampered in every single respect. The clients’ personal preferences, including the way they like their coffee served, are kept documented.

Ahead of the Banking Industry