Rothschild is a name so synonymous with wealth that it has even made it into the Oxford English Dictionary.

Rothschild is a name so synonymous with wealth that it has even made it into the Oxford English Dictionary.

The entry describes it as “the name of a family of European Jewish bankers who first established a banking house in Frankfurt at the end of the 18th century”.

With such a pedigree to safeguard, you could be forgiven for thinking that Noland Carter, the UK chief executive and global chief investment officer of its private bank, would want to take things easy and not forge forwards, for fear of changing the impression of the traditional bank honed through more than 200 years of wealth management. But not a bit of it.

Mr Carter spent the early part of his career as an equity investment manager with Robert Fleming and Mercury Asset Management, where he managed UK and then international unit trusts and related institutional accounts. He then moved on within the investment management industry to become head of global equities at Ivory & Sime, which was his last role as a “hands on” investment manager.

In 1997, he became the global chief investment officer for the private banking division of Barclays, moving on to be chief investment officer of Barclays Wealth, before joining Rothschild in 2006.

Mr Carter said: “I spent my early career running equity portfolios rather than being a business manager, but I got into that during my eight years at Barclays, as chief executive of the Investment Services division, as well as chief investment officer.

“But I came to the conclusion that it is more fun - and more demanding - to be closer to the coal face in a business, and fortunately Rothschild gave me that opportunity. I can use both my business and investment skills, while also getting back to seeing clients in the real world.”

One of the main attractions of Rothschild as far as Mr Carter was concerned was its independence. Many private banks are owned by organisations that need to distribute their own products. But Rothschild works differently, presenting individual solutions to exacting standards for what are, after all, exacting clients. It is clearly working. Its assets under management have more than doubled in the UK over the last three years.

When asked about developments within the industry Mr Carter said: “The role of the portfolio manager is changing. In the past, the focus was on picking great stocks, with a few bonds thrown into a portfolio for good measure. Now, the process is much more scientific, with a focus on diversified, long-term asset allocations and, for us, constructing portfolios in the most cost-effective way. We aim to maximise the returns our clients actually experience – net of taxes and fees – and typically use a blend of investment vehicles, including passive funds, active funds, structured products and derivatives as well as direct holdings. Of course the exact blend will depend on the individual client’s preferences and circumstances, because the relationship with clients remains critical.

“There’s a strong behavioural element to investing, so we spend a lot of time with each of our clients, trying to understand what they really want, their appetite for risk and so on – it’s an iterative process, and often involves several meetings before any detailed proposal is put forward.”

Traditionally, private banks have pigeoned-holed their clients according to balanced, income, and growth portfolios. But increasingly those stereotypes are being discarded, and the aims of the clients are becoming central. To prevent pigeon-holing, Rothschild is happy to deal with a select group of clients, which is reflected in its business model.

“Many of our clients are entrepreneurs who come to us via our investment bank,” Mr Carter said, “they have often just sold their businesses, and are looking for guidance on how to manage and structure their personal wealth.

“One of our main pieces of advice is to do nothing for six months or a year. This may seem like its bad for our business, but clients almost always welcome the advice, and come back to us when they have had time to think about their objectives, and the sort of lifestyle that they want.

“For us, it’s part of our commitment to being each client’s trusted advisor, and having a long-term approach. We also take a holistic view: one of our first steps is to look at the way our clients structure their wealth, to help them plan for future generations and manage their tax affairs.”

There is a perception, said Mr Carter, that Rothschild will only deal with the super rich, which is not the case given an entry level of £2-3 million. Clearly above the level many of us could hope to achieve, but certainly not in the realms of the likes of Bill Gates or Warren Buffett.

Clients generally have in excess of £7 million with Rothschild.

Rothschild prides itself on helping clients to meet their individual needs, and that is something that Mr Carter is happy to continue doing, without trying to grow the bank to gargantuan proportions.

He said: “We are not striving to come top of the league table for assets under management. But that does not mean we lack ambition. We are determined to grow profitably over the next five years, but that growth has to be sustainable. The way to do it is to maintain our high levels of personal service and commitment to independence.”