Standard Chartered Private Bank has launched a raft of services for high net worth Australian expatriates based in Europe – a move which the UK-listed bank calls a world first – along with a suite of banking services aimed at global sports professionals.

Standard Chartered’s Asian Executive Programme was launched in Asia in July 2007 and has since been taken up by 500 clients. In the past year the bank has launched similar packages aimed at Global Indians and Global Koreans and now Standard Chartered is targeting high net worth offshore Australians, who have over $1 million in investable assets, living in London and Europe.

The services provided through the Global Australian Executive Programme cover tax, estate planning, risk protection, real estate buyer advocacy for Australian property and offshore multi-currency mortgages, along with concierge and art and collectible buying services.

“Our research shows that Australians are increasingly globally mobile and that they are staying overseas for longer periods. In response, we have come up with a programme tailored to Global Australian Executives that combines a complete international private banking offering with the many services Australians need when they’re living offshore for extended periods,” said Peter Flavel, Standard Chartered’s global head of private banking.

Mr Flavel told WealthBriefing that there are currently around one million offshore Australians, around 300,000 of whom live in Europe. "They're now spending more time offshore so they have increased tax planning needs. What we're telling clients is that now is a good time for wealth creation amongs the offshore Australian community."

In tandem with the Australian Executive Programme, Standard Chartered Private Bank has also launched a Global Sports Practice which will provide specialist banking services for global sports professionals. Services offered include local currency and global private banking, investment and tax planning in offshore markets.

The sports practice will initially target what Standard Chartered views as a severely underserved market: the sportspeople of the Southern Hemisphere, in particular Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans. It is then intended that the bank will extend its sports practice globally to other markets, especially those linked to countries within Standard Chartered’s core footprint, such as Indian cricketers playing overseas.

"We've seen sportspeople become much more mobile in recent years and we have developed our offering to take account of this," Mr Flavel told WealthBriefing.

The firm sees segmentation as a very good way to be more precise in the offerings it makes to clients. More segmented offerings are thought to be on the drawing board.

Standard Chartered Private Bank has been aggressively hiring in recent months, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. As reported exclusively by publication last week, Torsten Linke has joined the bank as head of Indonesia markets in Singapore. The firm has also recently announced that Marianne Hay, former chief executive of Citi Global Wealth Management, is heading its business in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and North Africa.

In May Standard Chartered Private Bank announced its intention to take on 100 more relationship managers across the globe. It currently has 350 relationship managers globally, and said its recruitment plans were driven by a continuing increase in client demand for its private banking services.