The sale of both its Greek subsidiary and its financial products division is intended to leave the family-owned EFG Group as a pure private banking operation.

A stagnant home market and declining prospects in western Europe have encouraged Swiss wealth managers to expand in emerging markets. But the strategy for success is not always straightforward, and now a number of regional players have come to the fore looking to challenge Swiss dominance in this field.

Wealth management strategies are changing in response to a changing financial and socio-political landscape. The Banker and its sister publication Private Wealth Management approached chief executives from key institutions in each global region to canvass their views on the future growth of the industry. The panel of leaders addressed topics including regulation, reporting quality, due diligence and banks’ increasing use of social media.

As Asia's population grows richer, the continent's wealth management industry is struggling to keep pace and meet the needs of the ever-expanding number of high-net-worth individuals. Gone are the days of simply poaching such staff, and many banks are now focusing on producing home-grown talent.

While regulators and politicians may want investment banking to be split off from private banking, in the industry the two are moving more closely together than before the crisis.

Russian wealth management clients are moving assets back onshore, as the country provides its richest citizens with tempting investment opportunities in their native land.

Business is booming for the wealth management sector in Brazil. Large domestic banks still dominate the industry but international players have found plenty of scope to move in on this expanding market.

A flourishing private banking sector is developing in Turkey, as bank and wealth managers compete for the deposits of the wealthy, causing some high-net-worth Turkish individuals and institutional investors that previously entrusted their funds to European and US banks to shift their business to domestic institutions. Writer Metin Demirsar

As appetite for equity slowly returns to the world's markets, private banking clients remain shy of structured products. And if they are to be tempted back to this once-booming sector, there must be a shift towards more transparent and less complex products. Writer Silvia Pavoni