Merrill Lynch in London believes it can win considerable business among Europe’s wealthy gay community with its new diversified business gro...

Merrill Lynch in London believes it can win considerable business among Europe’s wealthy gay community with its new diversified business group strategy. WealthBriefing talks to Gareth Lewis, a financial advisor at Merrill in London, the man behind the initiative.

The growing financial clout of Europe’s gay community may be beginning to be recognised by the region’s financial institutions, but few have taken any specific initiatives to target this group directly.

To date efforts have been directed at the retail and mass affluent markets, rather than the truly wealthy. Individuals such as the ex-mayoral candidate for London, Ivan Massow set up Massow Financial Services to target this group. The firm, now called Fresh Finance, also sells insurance and other financial products.

Merrill is one of the first major financial institutions in Europe to target the high net worth gay community and believes it is well placed to grow its business among this increasingly important minority group within Europe.

“Merrill has plenty of experience with the gay community in the US, where efforts to grow the market have been ongoing for several years,” said Mr Lewis. “We felt there was a big enough market in Europe and believe we can offer the right products and services to cater to the gay community.

Mr Lewis says the initiative in the UK is partly driven by changes in the law for same-sex couples, the so-called Civil Partnership Act, which comes into force in December 2005. This will give same-sex couples the right to have their relationships legally recognised in the UK. (A comprehensive guide to the importance of this legislation is provided on WealthBriefing, entitled: Civil Partnerships — The New Law, July 21, 2005.)

The law will have a significant impact on the financial planning needs of those individuals wishing to register their partnership, says Mr Lewis. “Merrill can provide not only the financial products to suit the needs of the gay community, but give advice on matters like the Civil Partnership Act.”

To help get the message out among the UK’s gay population, Merrill held this June a launch party for its new service at the exclusive London jewellery house, Garrard, in association with Krug, the champagne company. Mr Lewis said the event attracted a diverse cross section of wealthy individuals and has led to many leads being followed up by the bank.

In September, the bank plans to hold a seminar on the Civil Partnership Act and further major functions are planned before the end of the year.

Mr Lewis, himself openly gay and an ex-Killik & Co stockbroker, says the strategy is not to sing from the hill tops about Merrill’s gay credentials. “We are not publicly branding this initiative - it is more about targeted word of mouth marketing.”

Nevertheless, Merrill believes it has enough creditability among the gay community and other minority groups through the firm’s internal promotion of its rainbow and other diversity networks.

Merrill says that it might reach out to other diversity groups in Europe in the future as they have done successfully with their multicultural and diversified business groups in the US. These groups service women, African Americans, Hispanics, and South Asians, and the Native American community.

Merrill Lynch sees this development as a key part of its diversity initiative and hopes to build upon the success it has already achieved with gay investors in the US, Mr Lewis said.