What Banks Do Millionaires Use? The Best Banks for the Super Rich

Several popular banks, like JP Morgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi Bank, and Goldman Sachs, offer private banking options that provide millionaires with wealth management advice and services.

With enough investable assets, these private banks offer their affluent clients banking products, like premium checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), and investment opportunities. They also provide special services, like tax strategy, trust preparation, and philanthropy planning, for those who want assistance or want to hand off the responsibility of money management to someone else.

So, what banks do millionaires use? Let’s explore some of the banks wealthy people use to invest their money and prepare for the future.

7 banks for wealthy people

1. Bank of America Private Bank
2. J.P. Morgan Private Bank
3. Wells Fargo Private Bank
4. UBS Wealth Management
5. Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management
6. Citi Private Bank
7. HSBC Global Private Banking

What type of banks do millionaires use?

Millionaires may prefer private banks over personal banks. Private banking is typically designed to enhance and manage wealth for high-net-worth clients.

Most people use personal banks to keep their money safe and pay their bills. You may be familiar with the options that many of the best banks offer, like checking and savings accounts, CDs, and money market accounts.

Private banks, on the other hand, provide personalized products and services based on the specific individual to help them meet their wealth management needs. Millionaires choose private banks for tax planning, exclusive investment opportunities, and wealth longevity.

The best private banking services are generally only available to people with at least $1 million in investable assets and tend to have high fees.

1. Bank of America Private Bank

How it stands out: Bank of America Private Bank partners with Merrill Lynch so you can hold all of your investments at the same bank. It also provides Preferred Rewards with perks like no banking fees, credit card rewards and savings interest rate boosters, and auto and mortgage loan rate discounts for millionaires.

Who it’s best for:

• Millionaires with complex financial portfolios
• High-net-worth individuals who want to score the best rates on loans
• Philanthropists who want to start a charity
• Art collectors who want help managing their collection

Bank of America offers various services to wealthy customers. However, Bank of America doesn’t publish its minimum balance requirements for its private banking services.

The bank’s specialized services include standard banking and lending, as well as customized financing that uses a yacht, airplane, or art collection as collateral for more significant projects.

Customers may also have access to a line of credit to help maintain liquidity. Other services include:

• Trust management
• Philanthropy
• Endowment planning
• Investing in alternate assets
• Art services for collectors or institutions

Bank of America partners with investment company Merrill Lynch to offer the Preferred Rewards program, which offers extra rewards, an interest rate booster on savings accounts, and additional investing options through Merrill Lynch.

You don’t need to be a private banking customer to use the Preferred Rewards program. However, the Diamond level of the Preferred Rewards programs requires a minimum average balance between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch accounts of $1 million over three months. Diamond Honors members must maintain an average balance of $10 million over three months to receive benefits.

2. J.P. Morgan Private Bank

How it stands out: J.P. Morgan spends $700 million a year on cybersecurity, making it an extremely secure place to store your cash and investments. It also has a wide global reach, with many international resources that can help you make deals or investments anywhere in the world.

Who it’s best for:

• Millionaires who value security
• Millionaires looking to take advantage of international opportunities
• Investors looking for sustainable investing opportunities
• High-net-worth individuals looking for specialty financing for things like superyachts or sports teams

J.P. Morgan Private Bank has been in business for almost 200 years and was named the best private bank in the world by the Global Finance magazine in 2020. It offers:

• General banking
• Wealth management services
• Trust account management
• Lending facilitation on expensive and custom homes or even superyachts

J.P. Morgan Private Bank ensures that every personal advisor is a fiduciary, meaning the person you work with is legally required to put your financial interests ahead of their own or their firm’s. Working with a fiduciary is vital to getting the right advice.

J.P. Morgan doesn’t publish its minimum balance requirements, but many private banks require at least $1 million in investable assets to qualify for private banking.

3. Wells Fargo Private Bank

How it stands out: Americans who travel abroad for vacation or work can use its foreign exchange services in over 100 currencies to send or receive international payments.

Who it’s best for:

• Millionaires who want to use standard banking services like CDs, checking, and savings accounts
• Millionaires who frequently travel or do business abroad
• Lawyers or law firms who require help with escrow, settlement funds, foreign exchange services, and more
• Millionaires looking to finance an aircraft

Wells Fargo’s Private Bank offers classic wealth management solutions, including planning and investment management, to help you ensure your money lasts your entire life and can be passed to your heirs.

Its products include:

• Premium checking accounts and savings accounts
• Certificates of deposit
• Competitive lending and mortgage rates facilitated through your banker

Wells Fargo Private Bank also offers dedicated services for law firms and partners. These services include treasury management, escrow services, corporate trust management, settlement fund services, and equipment leasing and financing.

In addition, Wells Fargo Private Bank can also offer specialty asset management, like art collections and even oil and gas or mineral rights.

Oil and gas and mineral rights services include managing royalty and rental income, negotiating contracts and leases, monitoring drilling participation, and overseeing property tax payments and reporting.

4. UBS Wealth Management

How it stands out: UBS Wealth Management is one of the few banks for millionaires that offers special services for athletes and entertainers — groups that have a notoriously bad time managing their money.

Who it’s best for:

• Clients with specialized needs, like athletes, entertainers, busines owners, and multicultural investors
• Millionaires who need help navigating complicated family dynamics
• Investors looking for non-traditional investment opportunities
• Millionaires who want to use a cash sweep program to ensure all of their savings is FDIC-insured

UBS Wealth Management provides personal finance and banking services for rich people. This includes:

• Checking and savings accounts
• Credit cards
• Commercial real estate financing

UBS Wealth Management can help set up long-term care options for future healthcare needs. It also offers retirement accounts, education planning (including 529 plans) for children and grandchildren, and general investment management and planning.

UBS Wealth Management also provides business solutions, including assisting business owners with setting up retirement and equity plans and institutional consulting.

The financial institution offers specific services for athletes and entertainers, corporate officers, founders and entrepreneurs, and family offices to ensure personalized wealth handling. Some of the services offered specifically for entertainers are rights and returns services, helping to keep your music catalog under your control.

Newly wealthy people can enjoy a perk such as working with a private banker to determine how much of their new prosperity to share with family and friends. They can also set up a financial plan to ensure their money lasts a lifetime.

5. Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management

How it stands out: Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management has a global reach expanding to the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, so it can help you no matter where you live.

Who it’s best for:

• Millionaires who want a time-tested approach for managing risk and building customized portfolios
• Sports stars and entertainers who want their wealth to last beyond their career
• Millionaires who want a hands-on advisor to help manage their wealth
• Millionaires who live outside of the United States

Goldman Sachs is primarily known as an investment banking company but also offers private wealth management services.

Focusing mainly on standard investment portfolios, trust and estate planning, lending, and philanthropy, Goldman Sachs requires a minimum account balance of $10 million or more in investable assets to open an account.

Because Goldman Sachs is primarily an investment-focused institution, most of its services are investment-focused. Some of their services include:

• Tax advantage and risk management planning
• Alternative asset investments
• Asset allocation and portfolio implementation

Goldman Sachs offers lending options for entrepreneurs, including cash management, credit lines or bridge financing, securities, asset-based lending, and mortgages or real estate loans.

Goldman Sachs is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a brokerage and investment advisor. Through their digital banking platform Marcus, Goldman Sachs is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporate (FDIC), which insures deposits in banks up to a certain amount per account holder.

6. Citi Private Bank

How it stands out: Citi Bank has a network established in 162 countries across six continents. It also has the highest minimum net worth requirements on this list.

Who it’s best for:

• High-net-worth individuals with over $10 million to invest
• Investors looking for discretionary portfolios
• Global citizens who want a bank that follows them wherever they go
• Business owners looking for treasury management services

Citi Private Bank offers ultra-rich individuals and global investors private banking services worldwide. Its private banking services include wealth management for individuals and their families, family offices, foundations, and businesses.

To work with Citi Private Bank, individuals or businesses must have a minimum of $10 million to invest and a total net worth of at least $25 million.

Among its products, Citi Private Bank offers:

• Higher deposit limits
• Savings accounts
• Lower transaction fees
• Access to a private banker
• Investment guidance
• Alternative assets

Investment services include portfolio and risk management. These services focus on customers who need global services, not just in the United States. It assists more than 100 million customers globally and offers access to opportunities and services in Citi’s Institutional Clients Group, which contains some of the world’s most prominent institutional investors.

7. HSBC Global Private Banking

How it stands out: If you live abroad or travel between countries frequently, HSBC Global offers an Expat Bank Account that can be set up in U.S. dollar, British pound, or euro. This can be especially helpful if you have assets in multiple currencies or need to travel extensively for work.

Who it’s best for:

• Clients who live abroad or travel between countries frequently
• Business owners looking to sell their business
• Business owners wanting to create a plan to pass their business to the next generation
• Millionaires looking to build a long-term wealth plan

HSBC Global also has an extensive international footprint, serving more than 62 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, North America, and Latin America.

It employs more than 500 investment professionals in 30 countries, and its services include features that many other banks provide. Still, they are focused more on high-net-worth individuals outside of the U.S.

HSBC Global Private Banking provides guidance and asset management services. Its discretionary portfolio management helps clients take a hands-off approach to their money and handles the day-to-day management of investments and funds through the private banker.

Asset allocation is suggested by a team of HSBC Global professionals who also work on rebalancing your portfolio to help you better handle risk based on your risk preferences.

HSBC Global can even help you sell your business and provide guidance on handing over control to a new owner or family members inheriting a business from a founder.

How does private banking differ from traditional banking?

While private banking does include checking and saving accounts, it also typically has concierge-style services. Here’s a closer look at the features of a private bank and how they compare to traditional banks you might be used to.

	Private bank	Traditional bank
Banker access	Dedicated personal banker available for customized, high-touch service and advice	General customer service, often less personalized with less direct access
APY rates on checking and savings	Higher rates on accounts due to the client's status	Standard, lower APY rates
Loan and mortgage rates	Competitive, often lower interest rates on loans and mortgages	Standard, higher interest rates
Tax and financial planning	Personalized tax strategies, including wealth management for tax optimization, as well as ongoing financial planning	Basic tax advice or financial planning, often not included
Investment advice and portfolio management	Access to personalized investment advice and active portfolio management with bespoke investment opportunities	Basic or no investment advice and products
Estate planning and trust services	Full estate planning services, including trusts, wills, and strategies to minimize estate taxes	Typically only wills and basic legal advice
Philanthropy and charitable endowments	Expert advisory on philanthropy, including setting up foundations or donor-advised funds (DAFs)	Basic charitable donations, with limited philanthropic planning or tax strategies

How do I open a private bank account?

To open a private bank account, you’ll likely need to meet in person with a banker or submit a form online, and a bank representative will call you.

You’ll need to provide personal information, including your name, Social Security number, driver’s license information, and the required minimum opening deposit to start an account.

Once you establish a private bank account, you’ll likely be introduced to a private banker or team of bankers. This private banker will be your point of contact and coordinate working with more specialized wealth management professionals, like attorneys or tax strategists.

The required minimum balance varies by bank, but those with assets of $1 million or more benefit the most from private banking. But some banks only work with ultra-high-net-worth individuals with investable assets of $10 million or more.

What are the benefits of private banks?

Private banking has many features that make it worthwhile for the right individual.

Although the services at each bank will vary, most of them provide benefits like:

• Privacy: Private banks maintain strict confidentiality for their clients and provide tailored options. Private banks also take cybersecurity seriously. For example, J.P. Morgan Private Bank says they spend nearly $600 million yearly to secure client data.
• Access to a private banker: Most private banks give you access to a dedicated representative who is your contact at the bank. As you develop a working relationship with the bank, you’ll have a team to handle your concerns and ensure your money is handled effectively.
• Prime rates or pricing: Although each bank's offerings vary, private banking customers may receive a higher annual percentage yield (APY) on investments, CDs, and other accounts and lower interest rates on mortgages or loans. A private banking client may also receive a free bank safety deposit box and high daily limits on mobile check deposits.
• Trust management: Private banking services often provide access to estate planning assistance to protect wealth for future generations. These services can help customers save on legal fees and reduce the hassles of setting up a trust. Private banks can help you determine the type of trust that best suits your needs and the tax and fee implications of setting it up.
• Business asset management: Private banking can help high-net-worth founders or partners handle company banking needs. This is especially important if a company grows substantially and requires a dedicated account manager and tax advisor.
• Consolidated banking options: Private banking clients can often meet their wealth management needs through just one bank. The personal team of bankers liaises with other departments within the bank and outside experts, so affluent individuals don’t have to worry about finding the right expert for their problem.

FAQs

Bottom line

Private banking can be a good option for high-net-worth individuals who need wealth management and prefer working with one institution for all their banking needs. Although the asset requirements and services differ at each bank, finding the right private bank to fit your needs can be invaluable.

As you search for a private bank, consider the most essential features and how you want to preserve your money. Then, research banks that fit your criteria and contact each one before choosing the right fit. Consider their services' fees and other costs and that you enjoy working with the people you encounter at each bank.