Spear’s Review

Maria Elena Gatt Floridia has built up one of the larger client portfolios in HSBC Private Bank’s UK HNW business – and she has done so with a clear sense of who she is there to serve.

As part of the bank’s financial markets division within the special segments team, she focuses on those who work in financial services themselves: private equity professionals, hedge fund managers and other sophisticated clients who are seeking an adviser who can meet them at their level. She tells Spear’s that her clients tend to have a minimum of £4 million in investable assets.

Her philosophy is rooted in trust earned over time rather than products deployed in the moment. ‘If a client comes to you after they made a decision, you’re not adding value,’ she says. The role, as she sees it, is to be the steady presence clients reach out to before they act – particularly when markets are turbulent.

‘There’s so much noise out there,’ she observes. ‘My job is to filter that noise.’

Adviser Profile

Maria Elena is responsible for managing some of HSBC’s largest domestic HNW relationships – predominantly looking after entrepreneurs, professionals working in the financial services industry and C-suite executives.

She has successfully grown the value of her book year on year. While Maria Elena says that there is ‘no magic formula’ for her success, colleagues attribute it to hard work, thorough preparation and a splash of personality.

She listens and offers solutions to her clients that are tailored precisely to their individual needs. Success has also been attributed to the fact that Maria Elena has access to multi-skilled team of experts covering investment advice and management, structuring, succession planning, philanthropy and bespoke lending.

Maria Elena’s clients have always been her number-one priority, and she aims to build long-term relationships. She enjoys working with people who have been highly successful across a range of industries and professions.

She stays close to her clients especially in difficult times and, crucially, makes sure that they have no reason to ever leave her.