Coutts private banking: minimum deposit and services

If you’re interested in private banking or wealth management services, you’re likely to have heard of Coutts. It’s a British banking institution, with roots dating back as far as 1692.¹

The London-based bank offers private bank accounts, wealth management advice and investment opportunities.

In this guide, we’ll run through everything you need to know to decide whether Coutts is right for you. This includes Coutts banking requirements if you want to become a client, and details of the accounts and services it offers.

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What is Coutts private banking?

Coutts provides personalised financial services, products and advice tailored to the needs of high-net-worth individual and business clients. This includes current accounts, debit and credit cards, wealth management services and online investment opportunities.

Coutts also offers what it describes as ‘bespoke borrowing’ to its clients. This includes mortgages, investment-backed lending, loans, overdrafts, short-term and tailored borrowing.

Who owns Coutts bank?

Coutts is owned by parent company NatWest Group.¹ It amalgamated with National Provincial & Union Bank of England Ltd in 1919. Then, when the National Provincial merged with Westminster Bank to form NatWest in 1969, Coutts became a part of the NatWest Group.

Can anybody bank with Coutts?

Coutts current accounts aren’t available to everyone. It offers its accounts and services to individuals who are either UK residents or expats, as well as businesses.

However, the bank aims its services exclusively at high net worth individuals. This means you’ll need to meet the Coutts Bank minimum deposit requirements, which are pretty high.

Coutts banking requirements and minimum deposit

In order to become a client with Coutts private banking, you must:²

• Be a UK resident or UK expat
• Be over the age of 18 years old
• Have assets of at least £1 million, or plan to borrow or invest at least £1 million with Coutts. This could be through a mortgage or investment product.

The Coutts Bank minimum deposit requirement is slightly different for international clients. If you live overseas, you are required to borrow or invest at least £3 million in order to join Coutts.

Coutts wealth management services

Coutts offers a full choice of wealth management services, including advice and tailored recommendations from expert wealth managers. The bank can also help with financial planning, pensions and protecting your wealth. Plus, investments and alternative investments such as real estate and company investments.

Pricing for wealth management at Coutts is based on the individual client and their needs. However, here are a couple of examples of pricing for certain wealth management services at the London-based bank:³

• Financial planning - £5,000 plus VAT
• Investment advice - £2,000 plus VAT

Coutts current and saving accounts

Coutts offers a choice of current and savings accounts for its customers.

These include the Coutts Current Account, available to individuals, trustees and personal representatives in a choice of currencies. It can be managed through online and Coutts Mobile banking, comes with a cheque book and debit card.

There’s an annual tariff of £900 a year (or currency equivalent) to hold this account, which rises to £1,200 a year if you don’t live in the UK.⁴

There are also a choice of deposit accounts, for cash management in the short, medium and longer-term. These include Active Cash Management and Reserve Cash Management, Strategic Cash Management accounts.

Coutts debit and credit cards

The Coutts Debit Card is a multi-currency card with a distinctive design, which you can connect to any of your eligible currency accounts. It can be used globally and comes with perks such as 0% Non-Sterling Transaction fees.⁵

There’s also Coutts Silk. You can get a Silk Charge Card, which has a high monthly spend limit, or a Silk Credit Card. This has no annual fee, but the rate is 14.7% APR representative.⁵ Both Coutts Silk cards come with access to the Coutts concierge service, which we’ll look at in a moment.

Remember that if you want to manage your money internationally and even transfer large sums, but without an annual fee*, the Wise multi-currency account is the ideal alternative. You can also get a Wise card, which converts your pounds into local currency using the fair mid-market rate in 150+ countries.

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Borrowing options

There are a few different borrowing options on offer with Coutts Private Banking. You can choose from:⁶

• Mortgages - for purchasing or re-mortgaging a property.
• Investment-backed lending (IBL) - borrowing against your investments to fund a business or a major purchase.
• Short-term borrowing - such as credit cards, charge cards, loans and overdrafts.
• Tailored borrowing - such as currency borrowing and finance to buy specialist assets such as aircraft, yachts or classic cars.

Wealth protection and succession

Coutts offers a full range of services for financial planning and wealth protection. This includes protection cover policies, wealth structuring and trusts.

Its expert banking team can also help with:⁷

• Pension planning
• Writing or updating your will
• Getting started with investing
• Making the best use of your annual ISA allowance
• Understanding inheritance tax.

There’s even a special department set up for wealth protection and succession planning. It’s called the Coutts Institute, which specialises in helping you to pass on your wealth in the best way.⁸ You can also get advice on keeping the family business in the family, and support for your philanthropy.

Charity and philanthropy services

If you want to ensure your wealth benefits others and support causes you care about, Coutts can help.

Its specialist advisers can help you explore your values and develop a strategy for charitable giving or philanthropic efforts.⁹ This will be optimised to ensure your giving has the biggest impact, and you’ll be supported to develop relationships with good causes.

Online investment

Online investing with Coutts is designed to be a quick, convenient way to get started with investment.

You’ll have five personal portfolio funds to choose from, each with different levels of risk and return.¹⁰ You can check in with and manage your investments online 24/7, and Coutt’s experienced investment manager will make sure that your money is invested in a globally diversified portfolio of shares, bonds and other assets.

There are fees for the service, though. You’ll pay an ongoing annual charge of no more than 0.5% of the value of your investments. Plus, a tiered platform fee of 0.15% and transaction costs of 0.07%.¹⁰

As with all investing, though, it’s important to remember that the value of your investments could go down as well as up.

Coutts Concierge

When you get a Silk Charge or Credit Card with Coutts, you’ll also get access to the Coutts Concierge service. This offers all kinds of perks, covering travel, dining, culture and more. For example, you’ll get:¹¹

• Complimentary extras on accommodation such as room upgrades
• Dining and spa deals at over 1,800 luxury properties worldwide
• Tickets to the best music, theatre and sporting events
• Exclusive retail deals
• Priority access and benefits at the world’s best restaurants.

How to get a Coutts bank account?

If you like the sound of what you’ve read so far and you meet the eligibility requirements, here’s how to get a Coutts account:²

1. Fill in the online form. Head to the Coutts website, click ‘Become a Client’, answer the eligibility questions and fill in your personal details.
2. Call 020 7753 1000
3. Visit the Coutts Strand office in London

Once you’ve taken one of these initial steps, someone from the bank will be in touch to discuss your needs and explain how to open an account.

Coutts address and telephone number

If you need to contact Coutts, their head office address is 440 Strand, London, WC2R 0QS. However, the bank also has offices all over the UK.

Need to talk to someone? The Coutts 24 telephone number is 020 7957 2424¹², available all the time.

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And that’s pretty much it - everything you need to know about Coutts private banking.

We’ve covered eligibility requirements, the accounts and services on offer, and how to enquire about becoming a customer. You should now have all the info you need to decide if Coutts is the right option for you.

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Sources used:

1. Coutts - History
2. Coutts - Become a Client
3. Coutts - Financial Planning
4. Coutts - Current Account
5. Coutts - Cards
6. Coutts - Borrowing
7. Coutts - Wealth Protection
8. Coutts - Coutts Institute
9. Coutts - Charity Services
10. Coutts - Online Investing
11. Coutts - Silk Card
12. Coutts - Contact

Sources last checked on date: 23-Oct-2022