In volatile markets you need sound strategy, wise counsel and the encouragement to stay the course. Hatim and the Vault team genuinely understand my goals — seasoned professionals I trust.
Private Banking Territory, Without the Private Bank
From USD 1 million: a dedicated senior advisor, access to private-market strategies, and a single fee that falls as the portfolio grows — with your assets held in your own name, outside Vault's balance sheet.
A million dollars is roughly where the private banks start taking calls, and where the cost of the relationship stops being a rounding error. It is worth being precise about what you are buying at that point. A private-bank mandate is usually a stack: an annual management fee, custody charged separately, dealing commissions per trade, product commissions on what gets placed, an FX spread on conversion, and in some mandates a performance fee. Private is built to do the same job on one line.
What changes at $1 million
Two things get added. Your relationship moves to a dedicated senior advisor — someone with the experience to handle a balance sheet where the interesting problems are structural rather than allocative. And private-market strategies open up: venture, private equity, private credit and real estate, alongside the public-market core and satellite rather than instead of it.
Everything from Priority stays. The tiers are cumulative by design — multi-goal planning, live reporting, consolidated structuring, custom portfolios and custody at Interactive Brokers all carry up.
How private markets actually work here
Each fund sets its own fee schedule; Vault charges a separate subscription fee for providing the access, doing the due diligence, handling the allocation and supporting you through the life of the investment. Both are laid out line by line before you commit anything — the published ranges are on the fees page.
Two things are worth saying plainly. Private-market allocations carry longer lock-ups than anything in the public core, and your advisor will flag the specific terms before you invest, not after. And they are a satellite position — sized to add growth without destabilising the part of the portfolio that has to fund your actual commitments.
One structural point that catches people out in a good way: the management fee applies to your public-market investments only, but the rate is set by your total relationship balance. Holdings in private markets and SmartCash lift that balance, which pushes the public-market portfolio into a lower band.
The cost comparison, honestly
Vault's fee at this level is a single management fee with no entry fee, no exit fee, no performance fee, no custody charge, no transaction fees on the core and no commission or retrocession from any product provider. Our revenue moves with your portfolio value and with nothing else.
The published comparators are useful for scale rather than for scoring points. Julius Baer lists management fees of roughly 0.65%–1.75% depending on size and mandate, with custody of about 0.25%–1.00% on top plus per-trade commissions. Emirates NBD publishes a wealth-management fee near 0.525% with a custody fee near 0.42%, again plus commissions by asset class. Several others — FAB among them — do not publish rates at all and negotiate individually.
The point is not that every bank's headline rate is higher than ours; some entry rates are lower. It is that the headline is one line of several, and the lines you cannot see are the ones that matter.
Who holds the assets, and can you leave?
Assets sit in an account at Interactive Brokers, in your own name, segregated from Vault. We are authorised to advise and to arrange dealing, not to hold your capital, and the account does not sit inside a Vault entity.
That makes the relationship genuinely exit-able. Public-market holdings stay where they are, in your name, if you ever move on — nothing has to be liquidated or unwound, and there is no exit fee because there is nothing to exit from. Private-market positions are the exception and follow their own fund terms. Vault is regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority in ADGM.
What Private includes
- Dedicated Wealth Advisor
- Multi-Goal Financial Planning
- Portfolio Live Reporting
- Low FX Margins
- Consolidated Portfolio Structuring
- Access to Expert and Custom Portfolios
- Assets Custodied with Interactive Brokers
- Dedicated Senior Advisor
- Private Market Investments
What Private costs
This tier covers balances of $1M - $5M. Vault's fee schedule is tiered and marginal — each band applies only to the portion of the balance inside it — so the effective rate across this tier runs from 0.78% at $1 million down to 0.36% at $5 million. The full table, including what is not charged, is at /fees/.
Compare Benefits
Trust, earned over time
Frequently asked questions
USD 1 million in liquid investable assets. Below that, Priority starts at USD 100,000 with a dedicated wealth advisor and the same custody arrangement.
A dedicated senior advisor and access to private-market investments. Nothing is removed — the tiers are cumulative, so everything in Priority carries up.
Two separate charges, both disclosed before you commit. The fund manager sets their own fee schedule, and Vault charges a subscription fee for access, due diligence, allocation and ongoing support. Published ranges are on the fees page.
No. The management fee is applied to public-market investments only. But the rate is determined by your total relationship balance, so private-market and SmartCash holdings raise that balance and reduce the rate charged on the public-market portfolio.
On total cost, generally yes — a single management fee with no custody charge, no dealing commissions on the core, no product commissions and no performance fee, against a bank stack that layers several of those together. On headline management fee alone, not always: some published private-bank entry rates start below Vault's. Compare the all-in number.
Liquid positions in the public core are typically available within 2–3 business days. Private-market allocations carry longer lock-ups, which your advisor will set out clearly before you invest.
Ask for the all-in number
Book a complimentary session with a senior Vault advisor. Bring your current fee schedule and we will map it against ours line by line, before you commit to anything.




