By Genevieve Cua

Sitting on at least $200,000 in spare cash? Banks are eager to roll out a veritable red carpet of services for you, ranging from posh business centres and lifestyle events to free-for-life credit cards.

Welcome to the highly competitive world of premier or priority banking, the segment that cater to the "mass affluent" who have at least $200,000 to invest.

The question is: Will you get the quality of advice and attention your portfolio needs? Banks say yes. But Roman Scott, managing director of Calamander Capital, does not mince his words.

According to Mr Scott, a former partner at Boston Consulting Group, specialising in the wealth market: "The big challenge is that priority or privilege bank customers are actually under-served - not so much in terms of access to products or services, but when you look at how these things work. And sadly, private banks are increasingly becoming like this too."

"Banks have an industrial model that is great for them. The model is about the bank making money. It's not about really looking after and providing genuine advice and care for the middle-class mass affluent - the customers who need advice most."

It is unclear how large this segment is. And banks are reluctant to share figures. But with Asia's searing economic growth in the past few years, the number of premier banking clients should have grown at a strong clip. HSBC's head of wealth management Audrey Wong, for instance, says HSBC Premier has almost doubled its assets in the past two years "on the back of rising wealth across Asia".

Citibank, which claims to have pioneered the premier banking concept in the 1980s, says it has achieved "steady and consistent" growth of more than 25 per cent a year over the last two years.

In a wealth report in 2004, Boston Consulting Group found that almost 40 per cent of the wealth pie in Asia ex-Japan comprised people with investable assets of between US$100,000 and US$1 million. In Singapore, the proportion was even greater at an estimated 58 per cent. While the numbers are dated, the trajectory is surely upwards.

Based on tax-assessable individuals as captured in the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore's 2007 annual report, the number of people here earning at least $150,000 has grown to 70,000, from less than 60,000 in 2004.

While that may not seem a huge number to trawl from, there is also the regional market. A number of banks have services geared towards non-resident Indian clients, for instance.

So what can you expect from a priority or privilege bank? Frills, of course. Queueing time, for one, should be much reduced - if you have to queue at all. CitiGold clients have 11 centres they can stroll into, which seems to be the largest network by far. DBS will open a seventh premier centre soon. It also has two full-service airport centres for "selected affluent" clients. Most other banks appear to have five to six dedicated priority banking centres. UOB aims to open four more to make a total of 10 over the next three years.

Then there are lifestyle events. CitiGold clients, for instance, can take part in an annual golf tournament and special events with personalities like chef Thomas Keller.

Some banks are leveraging on their regional presence. Citi last year launched "Citigold Global Banking" to allow clients to "passport" their CitiGold status across countries. This was launched in 16 markets with more to come. The services include support for global banking and emergency cash withdrawals.

But what about the things that matter most, such as portfolio advice " sans product pushing " and advisers who are capable of building long-term relationships?

Most banks are reluctant to disclose their RM (relationship manager) to client ratio. Standard Chartered Bank says its ratio of 100-150 clients to one RM is among the lowest in the industry. Citi declines to reveal its ratio, but says it is also one of the lowest, and that it takes a team approach. Anil Wadhwani, Citi's head of retail banking, says each client is served by a team of 80 specialists, including investment and insurance consultants and treasury officers.

The know-your-client routine typically involves an assessment of a client's current assets and risk appetite. Access to products is likely to be wide, including funds, structured products and forex facilities that would normally not be available to retail or mass banking clients.

You can also expect investment seminars. DBS's head of Treasures priority banking Pearlyn Phau says the last "big" seminar was held in March for about 250 clients. "However, with the fluid climate, this year we changed our strategy. We understand that clients need more hand-holding and a larger seminar may not be appropriate because they would not have the opportunity to ask questions." The bank has opted for "mini-seminars" at Treasures centres for about 20 to 40 clients at a time. The topic this week was currency-linked investments.

But the question remains. Will you get service and products that are truly in your interest?

For one, you can probably expect a revolving door of RMs. Banks, incidentally, also decline to reveal exactly how many RMs they have in their priority banking teams. But since private banks are encroaching into the priority space for suitable advisers, finding good and committed people must be an uphill battle.

Calamander's Mr Scott says the emergence of independent financial advisers, and the fact that their practices are thriving, are testament to a crying need for quality advice among the emerging wealthy.

"I'm starting to see a credible, high-quality, very active and serious group of IFAs catering exactly to this middle market, which is below the radar screen of private banks but rich enough to have $500,000 to $1 million to invest," he says. "These clients really want advice. It shows that the big institutional machines are not doing their job."

This article was first published in The Business Times on September 6, 2008.