Former Chief Executive of Dexia Banque Privée France and Fortis Banque Monaco, Jean Danckaert has been Managing Director of KBL Monaco Private Bankers for over a year and is a member of the Monaco Economic and Social Council.
Your Group - KBL European Private Bankers - is international, is it not?
Yes, it is. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of KBC, a Belgian group which is one of the European leaders in banking and insurance. Over the last 25 years, it has developed and specialised in the private banking segment in Europe, with three-quarters of the business carried out on-shore in Europe. Its Luxembourg base (since 1949) has facilitated this international development. Now, KBL epb has the Al-Thani family of Qatar as shareholder through Precision Capital, a bank holding company based in Luxembourg which is also holds a 90% share of Banque Internationale, Luxembourg. The Group is also among the 130 banks supervised directly by the European Central Bank.
We are present in 9 countries in Europe (Luxembourg, England, Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, Switzerland, Monaco, Spain), and in over 47 cities.
So are the decision-making bodies fragmented?
No, they are historic establishments which are very old and retain their strong culture. They are headed up by leaders with a strong knowledge of the local culture and economy, all aiming for the same goal: to develop the European customer base and strengthen our geographical network, with strong interconnections between the different banks of the Group. We develop business integration within the Group, leveraging the expertise of our parent company and our colleagues.
Our focus is clearly private banking (85% of our income) with two development areas, namely international and local. Our international positioning is clearly a necessity. Our customers are company managers or high income businesspeople who develop their careers in several countries and ‘think’ in several currencies. This positioning of ours can in no way be explained by taxation incentives.
Our growth is organic but the KBL Group is also very open to making acquisitions, as shown by our recent takeover of the UBS branch in Belgium.
You have been based in Monaco since 1996
Indeed, we have very international customers here, with over 50 nationalities although they are mainly European: Anglo-Saxon, German, Italian, Spanish etc. They live in Monaco or in the Côte d’Azur but also in their country of origin, in many cases with a second home in the region and generally speaking have very high incomes. They are families, businesspeople, foundations, family offices or multi-family offices and also third-party managers. We support them with various services, excluding commercial banking. We also take care of customers with more modest assets, when in a wealth accumulation phase. We operate in all areas of private banking, and we also extend credit, including mortgages, to support our customers in their financial projects.
What is your goal for the future?
We have two goals: excellence in services and long-term business relationships.
We aim to give our customers the best support, with an international vision and within a purely private banking model, but with flexibility and responsiveness in addition. And to create great loyalty in our relationships. Within the Group we recognise the value of time, which means trust. In order to carry out our private banking business well, we need to understand customer needs and take the time to listen to our customers. We must also empower all our specialists – financial planners, managers, credit officers – with a relationship manager above them devoting a great deal of attention to customer relations, in a relaxed atmosphere.
