Best Private Banking Websites: UBS, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse

The Private Banking websites of UBS, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse come out as winners in the MyPrivateBanking ranking of the online presence of the world's top 20 Wealth Managers. In our report titled "How Wealth Managers Win Clients Online" the UBS Private Banking website ranked first, with a total score of 82 out of possible 100 points. The UBS website scored well in particular due to a wide range of interactive tools which clients can use online to analyze investment needs and find the right products 

Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse were tied at the second place, with 81 points each. While Credit Suisse offers superior navigation and also a few interactive functions, Deutsche Bank scored especially due to its customer friendly content. No other Wealth Manager publishes online its wealth management fees in such details as Deutsche Bank. 

Overall the biggest Wealth Managers have no reason yet to be satisfied with their Internet presence. About one half of the Wealth Managers analyzed mastered the basic requirements for a website, but there are critical shortcomings nevertheless: Three out of four banks have no clear marketing message and more than 60% of the Wealth Managers lack customer oriented content. Furthermore, only a fourth of the Wealth Managers offered interactive functions on their Internet sites. The Internet is increasingly becoming the preferred medium of information for affluent persons. However, Wealth Managers are missing out on the opportunity to showcase their uniqueness in order to differentiate themselves from competitors - who are in fact just one click away - through their Private Banking websites. The content and marketing messages are easily replaceable and the interaction with the potential client leaves much to be desired.

The analysis and benchmarking of the Private Banking websites came to the following results:

• Navigation and Structure often inadequate: Only 40% of the Wealth Managers were able to convince with the usability of their websites. The search function caused major problems: 55% of the banks were unable to score even half of the possible points. Furthermore, only 12 among 20 Wealth Managers had a complete Privacy Policy. 
  

• Positioning and content too superficial: Only one fourth of the evaluated Wealth Managers were successful in communicating a unique selling proposition to potential clients. The illustration of offered services and the investment process was generally good, but information about costs and portfolio returns were absent for most of the candidates. The basic details of the amount of assets under management and the minimum investment sum were missing on half of the Private Banking websites. 
  

• Basic Interactivity works well: Quick and easy contact options are the strong points of most Private Banking websites. But there were critical weaknesses regarding secure data transfer as the majority of Wealth Managers has no encrypted messaging functionality on their website. In addition, only one fourth of the Wealth Managers were able to offer Interactive Tools to support and engage potential clients on their website. 
  

In the future, social online networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn will play an increasingly important role for Wealth Managers to win over customers, because more and more affluent persons are getting hooked to these interactive Internet platforms. Wealth Managers not only need to adapt the website to keep pace with these trends, but also re-align the overall marketing and sales strategy. Wealth Managers who do not open up to social media and the interactive Internet will soon face negative consequences in the struggle over the younger generation of affluent clients.

The total score (max. 100 points) is spread over three categories of evaluation:

• Wealth Management and Social Media