With entrepreneurs making up 35 per cent of the firm’s client base, the initiative aims to consolidate best practices, resources and expertise to support entrepreneurs’ wealth journey.

London-based private bank SG Kleinwort Hambros, owned by Société Générale, has announced the creation of a new Entrepreneurs Group, served by a team of senior bankers led by Rob Woodthorpe Browne.

The service-led and customised proposition is targeted at established private business owners, as well as those considering exit or transition, the firm said in a statement this week. The Entrepreneurs Group will also work with mid-cycle expansion founders, typically those who have reached several rounds of financing. Female founders, multi-generational families and the tech sector are early areas of focus and services include banking, liquidity, succession strategies and capital management.

“We have been serving and advising entrepreneurs for over two hundred years, and today they make up 35 per cent of our client base,” said Derek Hammond, head of private banking, commercial director, SG Kleinwort Hambros. “Harnessing SGKH’s entrepreneurial heritage, this initiative is about consolidating the best practices, resources and expertise to support entrepreneurs’ wealth journey.  As their business journey expands, so too do their needs and options; we are here to simplify their financial challenges and provide them with the highest levels of personalised service in the field,” he continued.

“SG Kleinwort Hambros understands that established entrepreneurs who are high growth, time poor, potentially exiting or managing succession plans, need advice from a relationship driven and trusted partner,” Woodthorpe Browne added. “Service has become a dramatic point of differentiation and based on our connections, deep-rooted experience and strong entrepreneurs’ network believe we are ideally positioned to become one of the preeminent banks for this segment of entrepreneurs,” he continued.

In addition to providing a high level of expertise and tools such as market insights and client podcasts, entrepreneurs may be able to access lifestyle solutions including property, wine investment and vineyard banking, art, and passion investing via Société Générale, similar to the recently-launched French Nexus offering.

Alongside Woodthorpe Browne, the Entrepreneurs Group will consist of a team of senior private bankers assembled across SGKH, including Daniel Dupre, Manuel Fauste, Jeremy Hill, Paul Newman, Russell Parmenter, Gareth Welshman, Ben Whitworth, and Hydi Yip.