Jane Austen’s bank profiled
Coutts, the UK’s “most exclusive bank,” is profiled in the Financial Times. Gordon Pell, chief executive of Coutts, delineates the only circumstances under which client names are revealed:
Mr Pell is far too discreet to name any of the bank’s current clients. He says the bank has a rule that it will only name clients who have been dead for at least 100 years and who have been eminent in their lifetime.
Those that satisfy such criteria have included Charles Dickens, Chopin, William Pitt the Elder, William Pitt the Younger, Hector Berlioz, Jane Austen, Bram Stoker, the Duke of Wellington and Lord Nelson.
An account there now would put Jane in quite wealthy company:
In addition to the Queen, Coutts’ current clients are rumoured to include Sting, the pop star, and Wayne Rooney and David Beckham, the Premiership footballers as well as wealthy lawyers and entrepreneurs.
Potential customers need to show that they have at least £500,000 in investable assets, or £5m in less liquid form.
So much for one thousand pounds in the 4 per cents.
