An Independent Alternative to Private Banking in Dubai

What does a private bank in Dubai give you?

Worth stating plainly, because the answer is more than a product shelf.

A private bank brings a balance sheet. That balance sheet funds lending against your portfolio, mortgages on terms retail channels do not offer, and bridging facilities during a transaction. It brings deposit-taking and payments, so cash management and investment sit in one institution. It brings an institutional FX desk, which matters at size. It brings access to issuance — new bonds, structured products, syndicated deals — that reaches clients through the bank's own pipeline. And for some clients it brings a brand that carries weight with counterparties.

Minimums in Dubai commonly start around USD 1 million and reach USD 5 million or more at the larger international names, which is the entry price for that bundle.

Which parts does an independent advisor replace?

The advisory half of the bundle, and generally with wider range.

Advice and planning. Goals with figures and dates attached, cash flow, succession, and the judgement to revise as circumstances change. That is the planning process, and it is the part of a private bank’s offering most often delivered by whoever is currently in the relationship-manager seat.

Portfolio construction from the open market. Where a bank recommends partly from its own pipeline, an independent advisor selects from the whole market. Vault clients reach thousands of funds and instruments across global equity, bond and alternative markets, and can build to a stated strategy rather than choose from a small set of risk buckets.

Custody in your own name. Accounts are opened with Interactive Brokers in the client’s name, segregated from Vault’s balance sheet, with SIPC and FDIC coverage within applicable limits.

Private market access, earlier. Private market strategies sit at the upper tiers rather than being reserved for eight-figure relationships — Vault Private from USD 1 million, and family office services from USD 5 million.

Consolidated reporting across everything you hold, not only the assets under management, refreshed automatically.

What do you give up?

This is the part most comparisons leave out, and it is the part worth being straight about.

Lending. Vault does not have a balance sheet and does not lend. If borrowing against your portfolio is central to how you operate, a bank remains part of the picture.

Banking itself. No current account, no deposit-taking, no payments. Vault advises and arranges dealing without holding client money, which is the same feature that keeps your assets separate from our continuity, and it means day-to-day banking stays where it is.

In-house issuance. No proprietary funds and no structured products manufactured in-house. For clients who specifically want access to a particular bank's issuance pipeline, that access sits with the bank.

The brand. Where a counterparty or a family governance structure requires a specific institution's name on the statement, that is a real constraint and not one we can meet.

Everything in this list follows from the same design decision. A firm that lends to you, holds your deposits and manufactures products has more ways to earn from the relationship than a firm charging a management fee. Fewer revenue lines means fewer services and fewer conflicts, and which side of that trade suits you depends on what you actually need.

Can you keep the bank and add an advisor?

Frequently the right answer, and it is what a number of clients do.

The functions separate cleanly. Keep the bank for what a balance sheet provides — credit facilities, deposits, payments, FX at size. Move the advisory relationship and the invested portfolio to a firm with no product to place and no lending book to grow.

General guidance on this holds up: consolidate advice, and there is a case for splitting custody. Multiple advisors tend to produce conflicting recommendations and a fragmented view of the same position. Multiple custodians can be a reasonable institutional diversification for a larger estate.

What this arrangement removes is the situation where the institution advising you on what to hold also earns from the credit extended against it and the products placed inside it.

How do the minimums and the costs compare?

Two numbers, and the second one is harder to obtain than it should be.

On minimums: private banks in Dubai generally start between USD 1 million and USD 5 million. Vault's entry point is USD 100,000 in liquid investable assets, with a named advisor from that level, and tiers moving at USD 1 million and USD 5 million.

On cost: The schedule is tiered and marginal: 1.25% on the first $100,000, falling to 0.25% above $1 million — a blended 0.78% on a $1 million portfolio, and free above $20 million. The full table, including what is not charged, is at /fees/.

The figure to compare across firms is total cost, not the headline advisory fee. It includes underlying fund charges, custody, FX spreads on every currency conversion, any performance fee, and any exit penalty. Private bank pricing is frequently negotiated per relationship and not published, so it has to be requested. Ask for one total-cost number in writing, from us and from the bank, and compare those.

How does the move actually work?

Three steps, and the first one is the one people skip.

Establish what leaving costs. Request exit or transfer charges from your existing institution in writing, along with any notice period and any penalty still running on a wrapped product. Occasionally that arithmetic argues for waiting.

Then transfer. Holdings that can move as they are move in kind rather than being liquidated, and the position-transfer guide sets out the mechanics. Where positions cannot transfer, the plan addresses whether and when to unwind them.

Then decide what stays behind. If credit facilities or a banking relationship are worth keeping, keep them. Moving the advisory relationship does not require closing the account.

How do you compare against specific banks?

Directly, and on the record. There are side-by-side comparisons against HSBC Premier, Julius Baer, Barclays, Emirates NBD, FAB and ADCB, each covering minimums, fee structure, custody, advisor incentives and investment range. The full set of comparisons also includes the digital platforms, which sit at the other end of the market. For scope rather than comparison, wealth management in Dubai is the broader page.