Weatherbys Private Bank

Spear’s Review

Founded in 1770, Weatherbys is a seventh-generation, family-owned business. The banking division includes Weatherbys Private Bank, Weatherbys Racing Bank, Arkle Finance Ltd and insurance broker Weatherbys Hamilton. 

Weatherbys Private Bank, winner of the Spear’s Award for Best UK Private Bank in 2023 and 2024, offers day-to-day banking services, including current accounts, foreign exchange services, flexible lending facilities and bespoke deposit accounts, as well as investment and wealth planning – including tax, trusts and estate planning – for HNW and UHNW individuals.

According to the bank, Weatherbys’ typical client earns over £300,000 a year, or has assets worth more than £5 million. Offering banking services and investment and wealth planning advice, private bankers also have specialist knowledge in a range of areas. This includes teams that understand the increasingly complex financial needs of farms and landed estates; services for expats and citizens who live abroad but who are looking to purchase property in the UK; a team dedicated to servicing US citizens; and bankers with experience advising sports professionals.

Company Profile

Weatherbys Private Bank is part of the seventh-generation firm Weatherbys, an independent family-owned British business with a long history of careful stewardship and responsible management. It looks after its clients and their families, many of whom have valued its services for generations. Its clients recognise its values of integrity, trust, responsiveness and respect, which are synonymous with its brand and deeply embedded into its culture.

As a private bank with a 250-year heritage, it delivers what its clients value most: a one-to-one relationship with a knowledgeable banker who is easy to contact and quick to respond. (It still has a ‘client calls should be answered within three rings’ policy.)

Private bankers take the time to understand clients’ specific needs. The bank has a high ratio of private bankers to clients, maintaining the quality of the relationship. Each client has a personal banker, supported by a team of two assistants – someone with whom they are on first-name terms and can contact when they need to (clients have their mobile phone numbers).

Every year the bank invites clients to complete a client satisfaction survey – to answer questions about its service, its products, its fees and its private bankers. In 2024, it scored extremely high on client satisfaction, with 97 per cent of its clients feeling valued and 98 per cent saying it is accessible and responsive. Its net promoter score (NPS), which is a key indicator of how much clients value its service, stood at 81, compared with the banking industry’s average NPS score of 30.

Many of Weatherbys clients will have acquired or accumulated their wealth over the years, while others will be still on their wealth-building journey. It continues to develop specialist areas such as US citizens, landed estates, sports professionals, law partners, accountants and entrepreneurs. Typically, the bank considers taking on individuals earning over £300,000 a year, or those that have assets worth more than £5 million – but this is not set in stone. The overall picture of a client’s financial situation is a key consideration.

Weatherbys offers a truly bespoke personal service. It doesn’t just tick boxes on an application form. For example, rather than adopting rigid lending criteria, its flexible approach means it looks at the bigger picture when it comes to a client’s finances. It empowers staff to make changes to improve the client experience. Some decisions are referred to, but where they can, it avoids bureaucracy.

The bank has always operated prudently within its financial limits, but predominantly the business is founded on relationships; its clients are at the heart of everything it does. Its mission is to improve their financial lives – and with its strong values, which underpin its ways of working and provide a framework for responsible business practices, it believes that this differentiates the bank from its peers.