Wealth Manager Profile: Rupert Robinson

It does not take a clairvoyant to work out where self-confessed sports nut Robinson firmly believes his group lies, and he is eager to prove it. He says: ‘Schroders is still majority-controlled by the Schroder family, so it has a strong willingness to take the long-term view.

‘In an environment where there has been immense pressure, we have been able to demonstrate we can work with our clients with the expectation that if we keep a mid to long-term horizon, we will create a great business.’

Robinson is momentarily more humble, saying that the bank has made the ‘odd’ mistake, but there is no doubting the sincerity of his belief in the integrity of the Schroder Private Bank business model.

He says: ‘We have no bureaucracy, and certainly no layers of non-performing assets. We are not people who just push things around and manage nothing.’

He peppers his conversation with examples of how the business is run the right way, whether it be his ‘passion for people and process’, the way the team is crammed with ‘first-class individuals’ or the wealth of experience his deliberately top-heavy team operate.

‘I am lucky enough to have a first-class team of people, and not just the client-facing ones, but in risk, compliance, deal implementation and operations,’ he beams.

The financial operations of his group are a source of great pride to Robinson, who points out the private bank made £40 million of pre-tax profit in the year to the end of December on revenues of more than £100 million.

The London office is in Wood Street, tucked discreetly behind the Schroder Investment Management division, which fronts onto Gresham Street. Despite the separate addresses, albeit with interconnecting doors, Robinson says the two often work closely together.

On specialist pitches, Robinson will sometimes make use of the UK mid-cap expertise of Andy Brough, the economic prowess of economist Keith Wade or the emerging market debt knowledge of Geoff Blanning.

'Andy is a great communicator but we are very respectful of his time and would only use him if the pitch would be of mutual benefit to both parties.'