While investment banking and corporate banking careers are traditionally well-known on business school campuses, the private banking sector communicates far less. With the increase of so many private fortunes to manage, the areas of private banking are significantly growing, leaving plenty of opportunities for those willing to start a career in another sector of Finance. In the past, clients with personal wealth portfolios to manage traditionally came from large, wealthy families but the fortunes of today's clients come from all sort of different areas such as Internet start-ups or those of international athletes.

Several European financial cities were represented from London, Geneva to Monaco. Albert Schawabacher, Structured Products at SOCIETE GENERALE of Monaco, Jan Witte, Former Head of Private Banking MEES PIERSON Geneva, Giancarlo Giordano, Senior Private Banker of ROTHSCHILD of Monaco, Patrick Fearon , Senior Executive Recruiter CCC of London and Julien Theiller Banking sector specialist-HAYS from Nice were some of the guests present for the roundtable.

The discussion was led by Professor David Hampton, EDHEC's MSc in Finance Programme Manager.  Participants reviewed the various stock exchanges and stressed the importance of banking centres such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai and showed the interaction between private banks and investment banks. To round off, students took part in a quiz and then continued the discussion with professionals in more informal manner around refreshments.

Albert Schwabacher of Structured Products at SOCIETE GENERALE of Monaco described the event as high quality and said  "It was a pleasure to participate and offer my point of view to the roundtable and share ideas with the students."

Sandra Richez, EDHEC's Career Advisor, explains more about roundtables:

"Roundtable discussions are particularly helpful in helping students orient their careers, opening up to a broader range of options and getting answers to questions that they may not be able to ask during the recruitment process! These kinds of events are a fantastic way to prepare for interviews as a complement to library and website research. For professionals, it is a chance to connect with graduates and professors like David Hampton, but also with other professionals from their field. The informal chats held after the roundtable often have great networking value for all involved. Roundtables are just one type of the events organised by EDHEC for students. The EDHEC Career centre organises also company presentations, skills sessions and resources to support students in their international job search."

This event was welcomed by the Finance students as it created a unique opportunity for them to benefit from professional expertise and strategic advice, and helped them to understand the evolution and potential growth of Private Banking and Wealth Management in today's job market. The students had a priviledged opportunity to meet industry professionals while of course the School benefited from strengthened links with partner companies.