Spear’s Review

Thomas Cummins, head of private banking at UBP in the Channel Islands, has spent his career going where others haven’t. When his boss asked if anyone wanted to cover Africa early in his career, Cummins was the one who put his hand up. ‘I’ve never been afraid to look at new markets, new areas and challenges,’ he says.

That instinct has shaped a practice that now spans Jersey and Hong Kong, with Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in his sights. Following UBP’s acquisition of Kleinwort Hambros, his role has refocused on direct client work – where, by his own admission, his strengths lie.

His philosophy is disarmingly simple. ‘People buy into people, not businesses,’ he tells Spear’s. ‘If a client’s going to give you 100 million, they need to trust you.’ For Cummins, that trust is built through honesty, availability and getting to the phone first when something goes wrong.