The best private banks in the world are profiled in this article.
HNWIs typically have more complex financial needs than the majority of retail customers. These are people whose possessions are simple to liquidate.
Although there is no agreement on the amount needed to fall into this category, it is safe to assume that you would need at least $1 million. However, according to Charles Schwab, you must have at least $2.3 million to qualify as wealthy.
HNWIs frequently turn to private banks for trust and estate planning and investment management.
Rich clients typically have a dedicated private banker or relationship manager assigned to them.
Since they provide general public banking services, the majority of the names on this list might sound familiar.
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We recommend that most wealthy locals and expats invest offshore despite this list, and we can help with that.
What are Private Banks?
These institutions offer high-level, personalized banking and investment services for HNWIs and ultra-HNWIs.
A private bank provides access to exclusive investments like private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds.
Private Bank Services
Private banking provides basic banking like checking and savings, as well as advanced services such as investment advice, estate planning, and tailored lending.
Private banks can help with international investments through their offshore banking services.
Top Private Banks in the World
Below are some of the best private banks worldwide, as per the 2025 list from financial magazine Global Finance.
The magazine chose the financial institutions based on:
- solid understanding of the local market
- global presence and reach
- high-quality and sophisticated investment offerings
- long-term focus on delivering private banking excellence
- positive insights from industry analysts and consultants
- strong performance metrics from various industry sources
Note that these banks are not listed in any particular order.
J.P. Morgan Private Bank
Adjectives used to describe J.P. Morgan Private Bank could include “transparent.” It is for this reason that the bank usually tops the best private banks in the world.
It publishes its financials quarterly for public consumption and is one of the few international banks to have made private banking a reportable segment. Furthermore, the financials are impressive.
In the first half of 2021, private banks had global revenue of $3.76 billion, up 14% from the previous year (YOY).
As of June 30, 2021, the private banking client segment’s assets under management (AUM) increased by 19% year over year to $752 billion.
With a total AUM of $3 trillion, which included the global institutional and global funds client segments, private banking accounted for about a quarter of the institution’s total AUM.
In the US and abroad, the bank received praise for private banking across a variety of regions and clientele. The company wins the title of Best Private Bank in the World for this year, as well as for 2021 and 2020.
JP Morgan is aware that many high-net-worth (HNW) clients today have investing objectives related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG).
As a result, it decided in June to buy OpenInvest, a San Francisco-based values-based investing platform, enabling the private bank to build more customized portfolios for its HNW clients.
Hana Bank
The Hana Bank in South Korea makes use of cutting-edge technology to support its cradle-to-grave private banking services—and isn’t afraid to have fun doing it.
It is one of the best private banks in the world, particularly the “most innovative,” per Global Finance.
The bank asserts that it is of the opinion that clients want to be offered differentiated experiences across their entire lifestyle as well as financial services and that this is not just true for high net worth clients.
According to bank representatives, HB has developed digital private banking services for mass customers as well as VIP customers.
The bank provides specialized services in the HNW market for the entire family, not just the head or patriarch.
Children’s activities for the grandchildren, “match-making” assistance for the adult children, and support services for weddings and funerals are a few examples.
In order to reach emerging millennials, Hana Bank has also introduced a brand-new digital service that combines finance with online games. The games were created by well-known Korean online game publisher Netmarble.
During the COVID-19 crisis, the bank launched life-care services via mobile social network services like YouTube and the Kakao talk channel. This was done in an effort to stay in touch with its customers.
Private banking at Hana Bank, which employs 731 people and serves 36,373 clients, increased its AUM to $58.3 billion in 2020 from $56.6 billion in 2019.
DBS Private Bank
Years before the COVID pandemic, DBS was a pioneer in the provision of digital client services. While the pandemic was spreading, the bank won awards for digital transformation, and it is still innovating today.
The bank nabbed Global Finance’s award for Best Internal Use of Technology by a Private Bank, which made it one of the best private banks in the world.
Additionally, DBS implemented a paperless credit submission process and increased active engagement and monitoring of credit portfolios through portfolio stress-testing intended to better prepare for pandemic challenges.
In 2021, the bank added new features to its DBS digibank (previously known as iWealth app), which enables wealthy clients to carry out daily banking transactions, manage their wealth, and invest anywhere at any time via their smartphones.
These new features include AI-driven smart triggers that alert users regarding key equity and foreign exchange (FX) price movements and offer stock suggestions based on their specific investments and preferences.
More than 90% of equity purchases, 40% of fund and FX purchases, and 90% of private bank clients have access to digital services today.
The DBS Digital Exchange, a full-service members-only digital exchange for trading and holding digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, was launched by the bank in December 2020 and went live the following month.
This initiative was part of the bank’s ongoing commitment to innovation. By the end of the year, DBS anticipates 1,000 users, and for the following three years, it projects annual growth of 20% to 30%.
With its Client Connect platform for smart-touch advisory and DBS digibank platform for self-directed online execution, the bank expects to use emerging technologies like AI and machine learning to “hyper-personalize” client engagement in the future.
As a result, DBS’ global private banking client assets increased by 264 billion Singapore dollars (roughly $195 billion) in 2020, up 7% year over year, while fee income in its wealth business increased by 11%.
Bank of America
The history of Bank of America’s (BofA) philanthropy is extensive.
For 160 years, the US bank has provided endowments and foundations with investment advice. It is one of the top private banks in the world, which the magazine awarded Best Private Bank for Family Office Services.
Additionally, BofA has devoted philanthropic specialists who offer a wide range of services, such as investment outsourcing, consulting and advisory, administrative services, and specialty asset management, many of whom have at least ten years’ experience.
The charitable organization has also been kind with its internal time and services, imparting its knowledge to banks that are clients of other BofA divisions.
Recently, the group collaborated with BofA’s Global Commercial Bank’s nonprofit, healthcare, and education groups.
The group added $4.7 billion in record-breaking new philanthropic AUM mandates in the first half of 2021, making a significant contribution to the $50 billion in AUM that the private bank currently oversees for endowments, foundations, and nonprofits.
The Philanthropic Solutions group has seen a 40% increase in sales and a 65% increase in AUM over the last five years.
Santander
The global private banking division of Banco Santander offers services to 217,600 clients in 11 nations.
It is a component of the Spanish bank’s Wealth Management and Insurance division, which has thrived ever since Victor Matarranz, the division’s global head, consolidated it four years ago.
Santander Private Banking is one of the best private banks worldwide. It received recognition as Best Private Bank in Emerging Markets.
Matarranz has been expanding the private bank division, which caters to ultrahigh-net-worth (UHNW) clients with assets exceeding €20 million, as well as globalizing the division’s offerings.
At the private bank, which strives to serve its UHNW client families before, during, and after generational wealth transfer occurs, intergenerational wealth has been a major area of focus.
According to Matarranz, the first time a member of a new generation attends a family office meeting is a crucial turning point in this process.
That person frequently raises concerns, which can be unsettling to a patriarch who has long handled the family’s wealth without opposition. Still, everyone involved may learn something from it.
The geographic breadth of the private bank, which enables it to offer clients the same service outside of their countries of origin and in all other markets, is one factor in its success.
For instance, the group’s well-known investment fund, Santander Future Wealth, was created by Santander Asset Management Luxembourg and later marketed in the other markets of the group, such as Chile, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.
J. Safra Sarasin
The Swiss-Brazilian private bank J Safra Sarasin previously acquired the Bank of Montreal’s private banking operations in Hong Kong and Singapore.
It is one of the best private banks in the world, earning the distinction Best Private Bank for Sustainable Investing.
As J Safra Sarasin sought to increase its presence in Asia, it was generally agreed that Bank of Montreal’s diverse client base of UHNW clients would be a good fit.
AUM for the Basel-based bank group increased from 185.8 billion Swiss francs in 2019 to 192.4 billion Swiss francs at the end of 2020.
Switzerland accounted for the majority of that (100.1 billion francs), followed by Europe (excluding Switzerland, 54.5 billion francs) and Asia (18.1 billion francs). Certainly, that final element will develop.
The Asian business lines of BMO are probably not J Safra Sarasin’s final purchase. It has a well-established international growth strategy.
Since 2014, the bank has stated in nearly every annual report that it is “hungry for deals” and has outperformed all of its Swiss competitors with the exception of Julius Bär.
Andreas Pratz, a partner in PwC’s global strategy consulting business, is not surprised that the bank is focusing on the Singaporean market.
Europe and North America are still important markets for private banking, but Singapore, in particular, has solidly cemented its position as a hub.
PNC Private Bank
Many believe that PNC Bank’s acquisition by PNC Financial of BBVA USA Bancshares will propel PNC Bank into a higher echelon of private banking companies, expanding its clientele and accelerating PNC’s family office services for the ultrawealthy.
PNC changed the names of BBVA USA and its wealth management division to PNC Private Bank.
BBVA USA’s acquisition of PNC “allows us to have a coast-to-coast franchise, given their presence in the US Southwest and West,” according to Don Heberle, head of PNC Private Bank.
PNC has also been expanding its private banking reach by adding new clientele and personnel across the wealth spectrum, including “individuals who are just beginning their wealth accumulation journeys, such as corporate executives, doctors, lawyers and others, through to larger families and family offices.”
It was given the Best Private Bank for Business Owners award.
Citi Private Bank
About 13,000 clients, including 1,400 family offices and a quarter of the world’s billionaires, receive specialized financial services from Citi Private Bank (CPB), which employs about 500 private bankers and more than 700 investment specialists.
It is one of the best private banks in the world, with the Best Private Bank for Net Worth of $25 Million or More award in 2025.
Revenues for CPB increased by 6% from the same period in 2020 to $2.02 billion in the first half of 2021. The bank also saw a 30% increase in UHNW new client net worth, bringing the average to over $500 million.
Since the bank had record cash flows and one of the highest Basel ratios in its peer group, it was able to maintain exceptionally high levels of liquidity in 2021.
In order to set itself apart from other family offices and private banks, the private bank has a number of specialties, including art advisory, sports finance and advisory, and aircraft finance.
Despite the success of its private bank, Citi has recently taken a more relaxed approach to wealth management, focusing more on the mass-affluent customer segment and establishing a unified wealth management segment starting in January 2021.
It acknowledges the possibility that today’s mass-affluent consumers could develop into HNW or, in some cases, UHNW clients in the future.
BTG Pactual Wealth Management
BTG Pactual is one of Latin America’s most active business lenders in normal times, but 2020—racked by COVID-19—wasn’t your average year.
Nonetheless, it is one of the best private banks in the world. In 2025, it was dubbed the Best Private Bank for Intergenerational Wealth Management.
Lockdowns that were required, terrified clients, and constrained suppliers all hurt business.
For the benefit of numerous companies in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and other Latin American nations, BTG Pactual Wealth Management supported its clients by offering them first-rate data, counsel, and liquidity.
Since the bank had record cash flows and one of the highest Basel ratios in its peer group, it was able to maintain exceptionally high levels of liquidity throughout the year.
When businesses most needed credit, the institution’s strong financial position allowed it to expand its credit offerings.
Wealth management AUM and custody reached 153.9 billion Brazilian reais (roughly $27.8 billion) at the end of 2020, a 33% year-over-year increase despite difficult circumstances thanks to the support of its wealthier clients.
The wealth division’s staff grew by 20% thanks to the addition of 30 new team members.
Private Banking Trends
The wealth management and banking sectors are witnessing significant transformations.
The best private banks are not only adapting to these changes but are also at the forefront of driving innovation.
Private banks are rapidly going digital, emphasizing mobile-friendly services and leveraging AI to provide more individualized and effective assistance.
Today’s clients demand more options, speedy access, and personalized guidance.
While new tech is helping, banks still face challenges like outdated systems and keeping data safe.
The Future of Private Banking Amidst Economic Uncertainties
Looking ahead, private banks are navigating a complex environment characterized by slowing global growth, geopolitical tensions, climate change, and technological disruptions.
These factors are reshaping the banking industry, demanding adaptations in business models and investment strategies.
The best private banks are focusing on offering diverse and innovative solutions to meet these challenges, ensuring they remain at the forefront of client service and financial expertise.
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Adam is an internationally recognised author on financial matters with over 830million answer views on Quora, a widely sold book on Amazon, and a contributor on Forbes.
