Pentamillionaire Investors Reveal Whether 34 Top Firms Are Worth What They're Paid to Watch Their Portfolios

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - May 2, 2013) - Affluent U.S. investors with at least $5 million in assets and $200,000 minimum annual income rate 34 national financial services firms in the Luxury Institute's 2013 Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) wealth management survey. Wealthy individuals share opinions on each firm's quality, exclusivity, social status and overall client experience. 

Only 30% of firms achieved an overall LBSI score of 5.0 out of a possible 10.0, suggesting significant dissatisfaction from high-net worth investors with their wealth management providers. Brown Brothers Harriman earned the highest LBSI of 5.87.

"Especially in wealthy management, client relationships and trust can take years to cultivate and a short period to deteriorate," says Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza. "Smart firms need to listen to what wealthy individuals are telling them to maintain brand reputation and client loyalty."

Respondents ranked the following 34 wealth management firms, listed alphabetically:

Ameriprise Financial
Bank of America
Barclays Wealth Management
BB&T Wealth Management
Bernstein Global Wealth Management
Bessemer Trust
BMO Harris Private Banking
BNY Mellon Wealth Management
Boston Private Bank and Trust
Brown Brothers Harriman
Charles Schwab
Citi Private Bank
Credit Suisse Private Banking
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management
Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown
Fidelity Investments
Fifth Third Private Bank
Goldman Sachs
HSBC Private Bank
J.P. Morgan Private Bank
J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Management
Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch Private Banking & Investment Group
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Wealth Management
Neuberger Berman
Northern Trust
PNC Wealth Management
SunTrust Private Wealth Management
U.S. Bank Private Client Group
U.S. Trust
UBS Private Wealth Management
Vanguard Personal Investors
Wells Fargo Private Bank
Wilmington Trust Wealth Advisory Services

About Luxury Institute (www.LuxuryInstitute.com)
The Luxury Institute is the objective and independent global voice of the high net-worth consumer. The Institute conducts extensive and actionable research with wealthy consumers about their behaviors and attitudes on customer experience best practices. In addition, we work closely with top-tier luxury brands to successfully transform their organizational cultures into more profitable customer-centric enterprises. Our Luxury CRM Culture consulting process leverages our fact-based research and enables luxury brands to dramatically Outbehave as well as Outperform their competition. The Luxury Institute also operates LuxuryBoard.com, a membership-based online research portal, and the Luxury CRM Association, a membership organization dedicated to building customer-centric luxury enterprises.