Matthias Lehleiter

Q: Why did you join Barclays Wealth?
A: Well I wanted to work for an international, young and dynamic company with great prospects and a company which is currently on the expanding path. And I think in private banking there is no other company which I can think of – there is just Barclays Wealth offering or combining those factors.

Q: What have you been doing since you joined?
A: Well, I am actually working in the business development environment so my background is more based on projects. To get an insight into the private banking business as an analyst you normally don’t have the background in terms of knowledge, business knowledge, experience, so it is a great opportunity for me to see that, while you train and to work closely together with people from the front office and also the back office side.

Q: What other areas of the business do you work with regularly?
A: Well private banking is not just advisory services, private banking offers a whole range of opportunities and we, within Barclays Wealth, have a great opportunity to work closely together with our asset management group which is Barclays Global Investors and also on the other hand Barclays Capital. Barclays Capital is the investment banking division of the Barclays Group.

Q: What support and training have you received?
A: I experience a lot of support in my day to day business from my team. We have a special culture within Barclays Wealth and it is kind of a family community so my colleagues really support me in my daily business. On the other hand we have a lot of training which is going on within Barclays Wealth group. So, we get the support of the HR team in terms of taking exams. As I really want to become a junior private banker I think that’s a good preparation, also in terms of theoretical knowledge for the job.

Q: What excites you about your future here?
A: Well within Barclays Wealth you’ve got a whole range of opportunities and for me as a young person it is really exciting to see that I have a clear career path. I can choose either to work, let’s say, as a project manager or to work in the front office as a private banker. So I have the opportunity with the graduate programme to get a very good background from the private banking business and to start as a junior private banker within the next three years. I think it’s very exciting to see that I can become a private banker and I can have and deal with my own client portfolio.

Q: What qualities do you need to work here?
A: Well, we within Barclays Wealth see integrity as a given and apart from that I would say that it is very important to be communicative because private banking is a people business so you have to be a good communicator and you have to have very good interpersonal skills. On the other hand, I would say it’s very important to be open minded. You have to deal with different kinds of clients and the private banking sector is experiencing rapid change so you have to adapt to that change. And as a third factor I would say that it is very important to be a team player, it is not just important to perform well individually you have to work well in a team.

Q: Why should someone come and work at Barclays Wealth?
A: If you want to work for a young and dynamic, successful company with great prospects and if you believe in our mission in becoming Europe’s premier wealth manager, you should definitely come on board.