Rory Gilbert is the managing director of Barclays Wealth Middle East. Appointed to the position 10 months ago, Mr Gilbert says his days as a soldier in the British army's Parachute Regiment have given him a range of skills that fit well in the private banking world.
You were in the British army before you went into banking. Why did you join?
I was young, enthusiastic and energetic. I couldn't work out what I really wanted to do after university and I enjoyed being physically active. I thought joining the army would be perfect and I had a few wonderful years. I enjoyed that culture of service and having a very clear cause. I did it for just under five years. I served in Bosnia for seven months.
Has that helped you with what you do today?
Definitely. First, I think I should say that I have been a banker a lot longer than I was a soldier, but oddly, or maybe not oddly, the brand that tends to attach to you is the bit that stands out. So in banking, if you ask my team, they would say, "You know, he was in the army". I don't think that informs my approach, but I think it's something that is an easy label to attach - and it can be a very useful label. I love being a banker. It is enjoyable, it is a huge change, it's being alive to possibility and thinking about what is happening in the world around you.
If I wanted Barclays to manage and grow my wealth, how much would I need to start out with?
The minimum is not really the point. Our aim is to look after people who've got investable assets of £5 million [Dh28.4m] to £10m. We can help them with the diversification across asset classes, we can help them with the appropriate lending with us, we can help them with what we call wealth advice, which is a structuring of trusts and different vehicles to hold their wealth. To benefit from all of that, clients need to have about that level and we find that is pretty consistent across the major banks in the region. The key thing for me is when a client joins a private bank, the client has to make the same commitment they expect the private bank to make to them.
Assuming I have £5m to £10m, how would we work together?
We do it all. We invest in every market, in every asset class. We have an approach that is based on behavioural finance, where we deconstruct what we think of as a financial personality. What most investing organisations think about is basically risk versus return. What we also do is look at the sort of person you are against five other dimensions. We think about this behavioural personality in ways that are specific about investing money. It's not just your tolerance for risk, it is also how you engage with markets, whether you believe in skill, your composure, which is a critical point in times like this. We find that if you understand how people want to invest, you are going to do a much better job for them.
What investment personality are you?
I've gone through the process and I come out at a range of different scales. I quite like risk and I'm very comfortable with illiquid investments. I believe in manager skill and I am very happy to delegate because I don't have time to look after these things on a daily basis. I truly believe in diversification. At the moment, I like private equity. There is a great opportunity because of valuations in developed markets - and also private markets - to add significant exposure. I'm doing that for me and my family. I try to approach markets in a way that I am looking for opportunities rather than worrying about how bad it might all become.