Central Eastern European Private Banking Marketing Study

Russia is the biggest by far of four budding private banking markets in central and eastern Europe, with the country's wealthy controlling an estimated $300 billion to $350 billion in liquid assets, according to a study released Tuesday by Scorpio Partnership.

Russia is well ahead of Poland, where wealthy individuals control an estimated $73 billion.

Wealthy individuals in the Czech Republic and Hungary round out the study, holding an estimated $38 billion and $35 billion in assets, respectively.

Banks with private banking activities are hoping to cash in on those assets for future business, Scorpio says, either with via offshore private banking or with a presence onshore.

"To capture these assets requires considerable early investment. We see this taking place in each of the four markets to varying degrees," Ted Wilson, one of the study's authors, says.

According to the study, demographics bear out the markets' potential.

"Wealth is owned and rests predominantly in the hands of young entrepreneurial and professional 'nouveaux riches,'" Sebastien Dovey, one of the study's authors, says.

In Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, the bulk of wealthy people fall into the category of $1 million to $5 million in assets.

In contrast, Russia has considerably more wealthy in all categories, with equal amounts in that lower-tier as well as in the upper-tier, which is above $30 million

Scorpio, a London-based think-tank for wealth management, interviewed 50 senior wealth management professionals for the study.