Pros
* Strong, well-respected brand. * Excellent research and market information available to staff * Top tier clients * Very strong leadership team at the team leader / executive level.
Cons
* Extremely bureaucratic, far more than other UK banks I have worked for. Takes too many steps and time to get very simple things done. * The Private Bankers are generally very poor line managers. The firm wrongly assumes that because they manage portfolios they are automatically good people managers. * "Goals" assigned by line managers (ie Private Bankers) are intangible and cannot be independently measured. This leaves your end of year review effectively 100% determined by the mood of your line manager, who sees little, and understands even less, of your role. * Do not support staff to study for professional qualifications, despite promising to do this at interviews and having clear guidelines from HR to do so. * Culture is very "blame" focused, with far more time being dedicated to pointing fingers than actually solving the client's problem.