For private bankers and wealth managers
When a client mentions a yacht, you have someone to call.
A yacht purchase sits outside what a private bank is set up to evaluate. I act as your client's buyer's broker, with a master mariner's judgement behind the search, working alongside the lawyers, accountants and managers your client already has.
Start the right conversation- Client appoints me
- Your client agrees terms with me directly; the bank is not a party to the engagement
- Buyer's broker
- Acting for the buyer from the first brief to handover, within the agreed mandate
- Advisers keep their roles
- Lawyers, accountants and managers stay responsible for their own work
- Master Mariner
- Unlimited tonnage, unrestricted waters
Why it reaches you
A purchase of this size, with a specialist alongside
A superyacht purchase is infrequent, technical and high-stakes, the same profile as the decisions clients already hand to a specialist in tax, property and succession.
Most relationships have a ready specialist for those. Very few have one for the yacht itself. Knowing who a client can speak to about a yacht, and mentioning it at the right moment, is the kind of judgement that deepens a relationship.
The same thinking, applied
Governance the bank brings to everything else a client owns
A superyacht is often the largest single purchase a client makes outside property, and it deserves the same structure as the rest of their wealth, so the client sets the brief and a buyer's broker handles the search, the viewings and the purchase while the survey and the legal and tax work stay with the specialists appointed for them. Mentioning a specialist to a client who is buying a yacht sits comfortably within a private banker's role, and extends the thinking the bank already applies to every other asset a client holds.
43.7347° N, 7.4228° EMonaco
A simple path
Three steps, from a first mention to handover
01
You mention the option exists
The bank gives no advice on the transaction, and each institution applies its own referral and due-diligence requirements, as it would to any outside specialist.
02
The client engages me directly
I am appointed by the client alone. Remuneration is explained and agreed in writing before the client appoints me, and the Fees page describes its shape. A first conversation, or a focused advisory session about one vessel, can come before any decision to appoint.
03
The client decides on better information
I search, negotiate and organise the purchase through to handover, while the client's lawyers, accountants, surveyor and managers each handle their own part, as described under Full Buyer Representation.
Alongside the client's advisers
Each professional keeps their own responsibility
As the buyer's broker I coordinate the purchase around the client's lawyers, accountants and managers, and each of them remains responsible for their own professional work.
The client knows who is handling each matter and what needs their attention. Lawyers advise on the contract and title, accountants and tax advisers on structure and tax, the appointed surveyor on the survey, and managers on how the yacht will be run. I give recommendations and coordinate, and the client decides and authorises any offer. The bank is not a party to the engagement and gives no advice on the transaction.
Full buyer representation is remunerated through buyer's broker commission on a completed purchase and a modest retainer agreed when the client appoints me, explained to the client before they decide and settled in writing.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Does recommending this create any liability or compliance exposure for the bank?
The client appoints me and agrees terms with me directly, and the bank is not a party to the engagement. Each institution should apply its own compliance, referral and due-diligence requirements.
What can I say to a client who mentions buying a yacht?
A sentence is enough: that a buyer's broker who is also a master mariner is available to act for the client, that the client can speak to me in confidence before deciding anything, and that the client's own advisers continue to look after their own parts of the work. The bank gives no advice on the transaction.
When in the purchase should this come up?
The earlier the better. The two moments of greatest value are before an offer is made and through survey and sea trial, where the technical verification happens.
What if the client already has a broker they trust?
That is normal. I act as the buyer's broker for the whole purchase, so a client would not usually need a second broker for the same role, and if the client has already appointed one, we agree at the start what is useful. Listing brokers are part of every purchase, and I work with them.
How is this different from a marine surveyor the client might already hire?
A survey is a technical inspection at one point in time, carried out by the appointed surveyor, who remains responsible for it. My work is broader and runs through the purchase: reading the findings in context, coordinating the specialists, and being present at sea trial.
Start the conversation
A buyer's broker worth knowing before a client asks
For private bankers and wealth managers who want to know how this fits before a client mentions a yacht, I would welcome a conversation.