April 27, 2009

Pierre F. Baer, chief executive for Singapore and South Asia of SG Private Banking, the private-wealth-management arm of France's Société Générale Group, says there is no better time than now for private bankers to decide if they are in the industry for what he thinks are the right reasons: a passion for finance and for dealing with people.The 49-year-old Swiss says the current global economic crisis will reshape an industry he has been part of for more than 20 years, mostly because the challenges of managing money are increasing just as the financial rewards are falling.

"In the past few years there's been a very big desire for institutions to hire bankers because the growth was so strong. I am not sure everybody who joined the industry came in for the right reasons," Mr. Baer says."There is no glamour in private banking. You have to have a passion for investments, for service, for being with people. If you don't love it, leave it."Indeed, the CEO says, dealing with people is the biggest reason he decided to be a private banker."I was always interested in understanding how markets worked, which is why I started as a research analyst, because I thought that would explain it. Since then, I realized it doesn't explain it fully.