KEY POINTS:
You may find yourself at the roulette wheel of a private casino somewhere in the south of France one hot August night. Although luck hasn't been going your way so far, you feel that's about to change. However you're almost out of cash.
In a slightly more likely scenario for a New Zealander, while perhaps taking a well-earned overseas holiday from running your farm, you hear that your shed hand back home is ill and the cows need milking.
In either situation, if you are the right kind of customer, chances are your bank will be able to help.
The managing director of private banking at ANZ and National Bank, Catherine McDowell, worked as a private banker in Britain, where the market for the kind of exclusive services offered is more mature, and the requests from clients somewhat unusual.
"We have an influx into the UK for the summer season, so you get a lot of your global clients coming in for Ascot and Wimbledon and then they go down to the south of France for August.
"So we had a number of requests along the lines of turning up at private casinos late at night with bundles of cash, taking their daughters shopping, buying birthday presents, taking the dog for a walk when they've been away on holiday. It's all part of the private banking service."
McDowell took over as head of private banking at ANZ and National in April last year but she expects the more unusual requests from local clients may differ from those of her British customers.
Milking the cows? "Yes, that's what I was thinking, or something in the vineyards or whatever, who knows? Take the kids bungy jumping or something.
"You do become part of the family, really, and that's where the line in terms of what's a private banking service and what's not becomes a little bit blurred."
McDowell moved to New Zealand about 18 months ago after a banking career in Britain that included a stint as managing director of offshore island business for a major private bank.
"Jersey, Guernsey, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Caymans, all those exotic places."
Coming to New Zealand, she found the banking market incredibly competitive overall, but more fragmented than in Europe.
"You go to your broker, your banker, your accountant and your lawyer, whereas the European private banking model is much more of a one-stop shop.
"Private banks in Europe have built up the expertise for clients to have all of their financial problems and solutions provided through that one institution."
However, that model was increasingly prevalent in New Zealand and Australia, she said.
Another European import, BNZ's private banking head Ralph Hohwieler, who has several years' banking experience in London and Frankfurt, echoes McDowell.
"In our business the banker has more of a position of a trusted expert, acting more like a solicitor or an accountant rather than what you normally experience as your banker. It's really quite open ended; that's the whole thing about private banking.
"There's a component which I would call general banking services. We still provide customers with credit cards and everyday banking and so on, but it does come on a very high service basis, and is very personal. You have access to your banker 24/7.
"Then there are those services that are probably more akin to what customers would get at an institutional level... If you want take that further it can lead to highly sophisticated services such as access to structured products, private equity and so on."
As for the extra "concierge" type services, he says: "A lot of bankers by the nature of things have a very close relationship to their customers that may well extend to service going the extra mile.
"It's not on the list or services, it's within the banker-client relationship to determine what is appropriate."
That ANZ National and BNZ have recruited European private banking experts like Hohwieler and McDowell demonstrates they are now taking private banking very seriously.
"We see it as very much a growth business," says McDowell.
Westpac's head of private banking, Richard Jarrett, agrees.
"We're growing at a very good rate in the major metros, but there is a demand for it in the major provinces as people tend to decentralise out of the main metros for lifestyle reasons."
So who are private banking customers?
"There are a lot of people who have inherited wealth, there are a lot of people who have accumulated wealth quite rapidly and there are those who are out to accumulate wealth for themselves and so have high income but low investable assets at this stage.
"I see a lot of clients who are very focused on what their vision for themselves is over the next five to 10 years."
Westpac generally requires private banking customers to have at least $1 million in investable assets for those in the metropolitan areas or $750,000 for those in the provinces.
BNZ's Hohwieler says the bank uses an international benchmark for so called "high-net-worth individuals" of about US$1 million or more in investable assets; however, it is flexible.
"You actually might find people who have well in excess of that sort of money but their financial needs are not that overly complex, so in that sense private banking probably wouldn't be for them.
"We have certain practices around private banking in terms of our discretion and our service standards and we might find customers of high public standing in private banking regardless of their needs."
Politicians? "That's quite possible."
He points out that his customers are often not the stereotypical wealthy.
"The perception is that private banking is for the rich, and it comes with that glossy association. The reality is a bit more grey than that.
"People who have a certain amount of money and financial needs as a result of that come in all shapes and sizes. It's not just the people who drive flash cars and so on. We have many people who came into money from virtually nothing and who still keep a very modest lifestyle ever after."
However, looking at the most recent rich list, "we probably easily have about 35 to 40 per cent market share in that".
Hohwieler also mentions a recent global wealth report which estimated there were 16,000 to 17,000 high-net-worth individuals in New Zealand.
"Once again I would say we have a very strong and representative share of that market."
He sees "a tremendous opportunity" in the New Zealand market.
"It's really getting the infrastructure and the servicing up and trying to make the most of the opportunity which is without doubt out there."
Private banking in New Zealand still had some way to go to convince clients that it could provide top quality investment management "because they don't tend to think of the bank as being able to do that".
"It took Europe, outside of Switzerland, quite a long time to accept that some of the European banks were very good at this. We are perhaps explaining what our private banking proposition is more clearly, more often to our existing clients and new potential clients, but there is no doubt that the wealth market is growing, not just the local market but obviously the migrants that are coming in from the UK and Asia.
"They tend to come into the country with money and the skills to make more money, so there's a big market there."
And because of the number of wealthy Asian migrants coming to New Zealand, private banks had to tailor services to their needs.
"Asian private banking is much more trading oriented, so they are much more focused on foreign exchange trading, not so much in asset management."
Like McDowell, Hohwieler believes the New Zealand private banking market has yet to develop fully.
"A lot of organisations call themselves private banking, but what I think they are doing would either be called premium banking or wealth management.
"Private banking is really the marriage of the two - plus a bit more."
It's ok to flaunt, but take care
Many private banking customers enjoy the benefits and prestige of a high end credit card.
Among the most highly prized are the charge cards offered by American Express including its Platinum Card and Centurion or "Black Card".
Each offer a suite of perks over and above heady, sometimes unlimited spending limits including VIP access to air tickets, luxury hotels, privileges at posh department stores and "concierge" type services.
Westpac head of private banking Richard Jarrett says his bank tailors credit cards to suit its clients.
"Some might like a limit of $250,000 or even more, or some might like a very simple $15,000 to $20,000 because their view on using plastic is quite different. A $350,000 limit is quite standard for the real top end clients that want that flexibility. It doesn't mean they use it. If they need to use it, it's there, it's a degree of comfort, a peace of mind thing."
Westpac's top card is called the "portfolio" or "titanium black card".
"It is recognisable within the Westpac network, it's also quite discreet in that it's Westpac private banking clients only."
According to Catherine McDowell, head of private banking at ANZ and National banks, "It's a very thin layer at the top of the private banking market that you are appealing to with that kind of card ...
"If you've got it, flaunt it but there comes a stage ... when it actually becomes dangerous to flaunt it because of kidnapping and because of privacy issues."
Who are the private bankers?
About 260 private bankers work for the main retail banks. Westpac has about 30 while ANZ National and BNZ have about 100 each.
McDowell says they are a special breed.
"They need to be knowledgeable at a wide level. They need to understand transactional banking and lending. They also need to know and have a passion for asset management and to keep up with currencies and markets."
Westpac's Richard Jarrett also says private bankers must be relationship experts.
"It's an intimate sort of relationship, it's high touch, high contact."
McDowell says it is a challenge to find suitable recruits in the local market who have the particular skill set.
