Coutts targets next generation with Wharton initiative

UK private bank Coutts & Co has enlisted NASA astronauts to help launch an educational programme for next generation clients, with the aim of teaching them to better manage wealth and develop business acumen.

The main wealth management arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland announced on 4 July that it has conducted the first week-long programme in London, in partnership with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, as part of its initiative to provide wealth management advice and opportunities for its next generation clients.

Alexandra Carr, head of next generation services at Coutts, told Campden: “Around half of the participants in the programme were from family business backgrounds. The programme was launched as a growing number of parents/clients want to educate their offspring on money management.”

The Coutts Academy was launched by astronauts involved in the last mission of NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery.

Carr added that the programme encompassed a package to deal with both inherited family wealth, as well as wealth of next generation clients who want to make their mark outside the family business.

The Coutts Academy programme, directed at participants aged between 21 and 25, saw a cross-section of next generation clients from around the world taking part. Coutts said that the programme will be held once every year in different locations around the world.