Art banking

As art banking refers to a net assets and investment advice specifically for owners of artwork .

Basics

After some credit institutions , such as UBS , Deutsche Bank and Citigroup , and private banks specializing in wealthy private customers, recognized in recent years that their clientele, in addition to the traditional assets they had previously managed, such as savings deposits , securities accounts , gold , investments and real estate, also had valuable art and Antiquities , art banking was introduced at some institutions in order to enable wealthy customers to receive competent advice even with this form of capital. UBS started its activities in this area in 1998. As a result of the financial crisis, it will cease its art consultancy on April 1, 2009.

In the classic training of a bank employee or manager , which is tailored to the financial business, knowledge of art history is usually not included. Therefore, for these services, reliable external experts, mostly art historians , are often called in on a case-by-case basis or integrated into existing asset management as permanent employees of the bank.

An essential feature of Art Banking is to advise customers in accordance with customary banking standards, that is: "neutral-efficient-concealed". It is understood as a supplement to the range of services for wealthy private customers. It also offers banks the opportunity to get in touch with potential customers.

As a rule, this special service is only available to long-standing customers of the financial institution as part of the family office . The Maecenas Private Bank Group in London, for example, is an exception, as it does not offer any financial services and instead specializes exclusively in art banking.