Xavier Miet

Q: Why did you join Barclays Wealth?
A: There are many reasons for that. The first one is my interest for the wealth management industry. Wealth management not only has huge potential growth, but it is about client relationships, it’s about wealth structuring and investment management – you are exposed to a vast area of financial services. The second reason after the industry is the firm itself – Barclays and its reputation. It’s a firm, I think, that is driven by excellence and meritocracy, so if you want to have an impact it is possible. And I think the third reason - it’s I think the most important - is the support of the senior management. It’s quite interesting to feel how the senior management is supporting you and not only that, but this senior management is really business savvy and performance driven, and for all those reasons I thought that Barclays Wealth was on a journey I wanted to be a part of.

Q: What have you been doing since you joined?
A: Basically my role entails four different activities. The first one is understanding and learning about the business for me to get a better understanding of what’s going on, where we are, where we are going to go, and how we are going to achieve this. The second activity is about researching and analysing. It’s all about data crunching, data mining, analysing processes and the best practices. The third activity is, as I said, about managing and guiding projects and initiatives - for me it is more about trying to remove road blocks, identifying bottle necks and marshalling forces and get things done. And last but not least my fourth activity is about meeting people across wealth management, from the back office to the front office, from the BGI self strategists to the client.

Q: What are the most interesting projects you’ve been involved with?
A: There is one project – one of the projects that I have done, that I value the most. This is the new investment proposition and philosophy I have been working on. I value this project because it allowed me to learn about the business along three different dimensions. The first one is about clients financial personality, the second is about the multiple investment styles and the last one is investment technology and of recognising the importance of client profiling and the need for alternative investments and the use of modern portfolio management theory. All this contributes to a unique combination and provides me with an excellent platform to leverage my past experience learned doing my MBA.

Q: What other areas of the business do you work with regularly?
A: I tend to work a lot with the private bankers because I believe that the private bankers are the core of the business, if those are the ones who generate revenues. And also I work a lot with the product office because we are defining new products and we need to be close to them. I also interact a lot with BGI and Barclays Cap because they are also providers of new products to the front office.

Q: What support have you received since joining?
A: For me the main support I have had is basically the trust of my management. Very quickly, my manager assigned me projects with a strong conviction I would deliver. And I think this trust has been the main support I have had since the beginning.

Q: What excites you about your future here?
A: What I think is really exciting is that we are at the beginning of a journey, of a new era of wealth management, and there is a huge potential today, but we need to get there. And that is what really is exciting, this journey and the huge opportunities we have.

Q: What qualities do you need to work here?
A: The qualities… I think the first one is to have interest in investment. It is about having interest in client relationships, in meeting people. The second one would be the ability to thrive in a fast pace environment. Wealth management today is growing very fast, Barclays Wealth is growing at a fast pace - you need to grab this growth and be able to adapt and thrive in this environment.

Q: Why should someone come and work at Barclays Wealth?
A: If you want to witness or experience how you grow a business, how do you increase a market share in such a fragmented market, and if you want to witness how an industry is changing then I think Barclays Wealth is a good place to be.