The secret life of a private banker

Romuald Gallay is a Swiss banking executive working in the heart of the city of Geneva. He has been working for five years at Banque Profil de Gestion, and has 11+ years of experience in the private banking industry. He is currently Vice President at the BPDG.

Born and raised in Geneva, 37 summers young, Mr. Gallay gave us an honest, authentic, real peek into how he handles his job, and mostly, what the life of a private banker is really like.

His background
A strong-willed, witty personality with a passion for life, who values a strong family unit and who possesses an innate sense of loyalty and a remarkable insight towards his customers and his profession, Romuald Gallay went off the beaten path in order to arrive where he is today.

Mr Gallay explored his options during his studies. He followed his own rhythm, and it took some time for him to find his calling. However, in the end, he successfully obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. With his studies behind him, Romuald Gallay started working for the Banque Cantonale de Genève as a trainee in one of the bank’s subsidiaries, called Ankerbank, based in Lausanne.

Ankerbank offered Romuald Gallay to explore the position of Junior Relationship Manager before the end of his internship. He then worked for the Banque de Dépôt et de Gestion, and finally ended up at the Banque Profil de Gestion in 2011. The job blossomed into the job position of VP of Banque Profil de Gestion.

His mentors
There were several people who crossed Romuald Gallay’s path, whom he considers as his mentors. However, first of all, his biggest support system was his parents. Gallay’s father taught him moral values, a set of principles that has guided him throughout his professional path on how to evaluate what is right and wrong, as well as what is useful or unimportant. One of the values that his father taught him were to always be honest in any business endeavor. According to his father, “The truth will never damage a cause that is just.” The most important value Romuald Gallay’s parents taught him is freedom. He is grateful that his parents were always cheering for him as he chose his life’s path.

In the corporate world, there were two mentors who helped Gallay throughout his professional life, who really saw him grow and transform his view and approach in the working world. The first helped him to navigate through his first job position. This mentor taught Romuald Gallay the ins and outs of how to be a Relationship Manager in a growing bank, and how to develop codes of conduct in such an environment.

Romuald Gallay met his second mentor in the same context, who taught him how to strategize and manage critical situations, as well as the value of respect and customer loyalty. In his field, having experience with customer management is a competitive advantage.

While he firmly believes that, with the support of a good mentor, anyone can succeed, Romuald Gallay does not currently have a mentor. However, he fully remains open to receiving advice from people who can expand knowledge by sharing their experience and wisdom.

What it takes
Mr. Gallay learned many of his skills through the courses organized by the private banks and sales courses.

As for soft skills, Mr. Gallay emphasized the importance of knowing how to approach and deal with a client. However, he states that for him, “the hard and soft skills are intertwined, like a melting pot of a certain know-how and dexterity. It is all about finding balance.”

For Mr. Gallay, bouncing back from setbacks and failures is critical to success. He shared with us his viewpoint on what is best for young professionals starting out and facing tough setbacks, as well as some particularly memorable experiences that have come from failure. Here are a few of his pearls:

On learning
Throughout his career, Mr. Gallay had the opportunity to take a glimpse at some application forms of his competitors. He then realized that they had a similar educational background. This, once again, has proven to Romuald Gallay that ‘business know-how’ is the ultimate key to success.

Also, after eleven years of being a relationship manager, Romuald Gallay is aware that the secret to maintaining balance in the workplace is to learn from mistakes. The more we learn, the fewer mistakes we tend to make. According to Mr. Gallay, it is best to make mistakes when one is younger, to learn from them and grow from them. Making mistakes when young allows us to have less severe consequences to deal with in the end. His advice to young professionals is to try to avoid making mistakes, but if you do, talk to your supervisor about it as soon as possible. Never try to conceal the truth, since it will make the employee look unprofessional. Daring to communicate openly about mistakes, and dealing with the consequences, helps to pave the way to success.

On managing relationships
The internet has not fully levelled the playing field for young professionals in the banking industry, according to Mr. Gallay. The interaction with the client remains largely face to face. Having a good, solid contact with clients is essential for a relationship manager. However, there is still a lot of technology involved, and this aspect is growing. Professionals in the private banking industry have to be aware that the industry is flowering, and making constant progress. How relationships are managed is also changing, but the essence must still be there.

Ultimately, when there is a flow between client and relationship manager, things will develop naturally. Any good business relationship is based on mutual trust. That trust must be earned over a long period of time, and must constantly be maintained in order to build a portfolio of clients and move forward with each individual client.

On handling the pressure
A high achiever in business accomplishments, Romuald Gallay’s process for achieving his goals is to plan ahead for his clients and to take care of their well-being and financial wealth. For him, this means preventing clients from losing money and helping them grow their assets. However, he confided that within his own private life, his personal attitude is more “carpe diem”. Seizing one day at a time is how he finds balance.

The pressure handled on a day to day basis for someone in his position is by being aware of the reality of the job and its challenges. Some days pass by slowly. Others require being on top of the game and under constant pressure. The way Romuald Gallay handles pressure is to embrace it, to use it as a positive, motivating force to help him power through. It is also key, for him, to keep in mind what is important and focus his energy on that. When the demands he faces outpace his resources, he makes a conscious choice to pay attention to what needs to be handled first and foremost.

So…what is it that you do?
The world of a private banker and relationship manager is decidedly complex. It takes a lot of drive, determination, organization, intuition, knowledge and soft skills to accomplish this balancing act. Yet when Romuald Gallay’s niece asked him one day: “So, Uncle, what is it that you exactly do all day at work?” he was perplexed. He himself was not able to formulate a proper answer to that multi-dimensional and colourful question. Perhaps that is also what keeps him motivated and passionate about what he does, day after day.