Banque Havilland, a family-owned private bank based in Luxembourg, has made its first foray into polo sponsorship as it makes a serious tilt at the ultra high net worth client sector.

As it looks to further raise its profile among the UHNW, the bank has chosen to sponsor Polo Rocks 2012. The event, which will take place on 21 July in Surrey in the southeast of England, is quite unusual in that it combines a high goal polo match followed by an outdoor concert featuring Mike & The Mechanics in aid of TUSK, the African conservation charity.

Polo is of course a natural sponsorship choice for banks looking to tap the well-heeled UNHW segment, and the equine sport is part of the branding and marketing strategies of many firms, along with motor racing, golf and sailing. A number of wealth managers have entered high-profile sponsorship deals after the budget freezes implemented after the financial crisis, and some of these have been firms’ first efforts with high-profile sporting events.

"Polo is a sport that embraces many of the same values as Banque Havilland: tradition, family values and a sense of excellence and attention to detail. We think it is a sport where people are passionate about performance and this is something we can identify with," said Venetia Lean, Bank Havilland’s chief operating officer. A recent in-depth interview with Lean (who is also a member of the bank’s founding family, the Rowlands) can be viewed here.

The decision to sponsor a UK-focused event reflects the fact that the UK is one of the key markets where the bank is looking to attract new clients, Lean told WealthBriefing. Polo Rocks is also “a smaller and more personal/family event which we feel fits with the approach and philosophy of the bank,” she added.

A relatively new name, Banque Havilland, which was founded in 2009, has been in the news on several fronts recently. In May it opened a new office in Monaco, adding to those in London and Luxembourg, and last month it appointed Nicholas Parker as chief executive of private banking. Parker had been with Citi since 2005, when he was recruited to help drive the development of its UK onshore and offshore UHNW business.

In July 2011 Banque Havilland acquired the former Dexia Private Bank Monaco from Dexia Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, as part of its plan to develop an international private banking group. The bank had been working since then to transfer the operational infrastructure of the Monaco bank to the Luxembourg operating platform. 

Banque Havilland, which currently has 60 staff, rose out of the ashes of the bankrupt Icelandic bank Kaupthing; the Rowland family are thought to have bought Kaupthing in order to leverage having an operating infrastructure and experienced wealth management, private banking and asset management teams "ready made", as it were.