Bmo Branches Into Affluent 'lifestyle Services'

[deathstickboy]

Can a bank change a diaper?

http://finance.sympatico.msn.ca/investing/...umentid=3314013

March 08, 2007
TORONTO (CP) - The private banking division of the Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) is branching out far beyond financial services to offer its well-off clients a suite of "lifestyle services" - from laundry and grocery shopping to lining up emergency daycare.

The new package, marketed as enCircle Exec, "takes financial and daily life chores off busy executives' hands," BMO Harris Private Banking said Wednesday.

Described as "a complementary service that assists with time-consuming daily life chores," enCircle Exec will "meet the needs of 40-55-year-old executives, professionals, and business owners who are trying to both care for children and aging parents, and who simply don't have the time to manage their personal day-to-day affairs as closely as they'd like to," stated BMO Harris Private Banking vice-president Jean Blacklock.
BMO's landmark late-1990s advertising campaign asked the question, "Can a bank change?" and enCircle Exec is a major transition beyond deposits, loans and other financial services.

In focus groups, Blacklock said, "We heard, clearly - from time-starved, busy executives, entrepreneurs, accountants and lawyers - that if we could bundle a package of services that incorporates the comprehensive services traditionally expected from a full-service private bank with access to a suite of non-banking lifestyle services, we'd have a solution that they would embrace."

The minimum account size for enCircle Exec is $500,000 in investible assets, with fees charged on a sliding scale based on the size of the portfolio, starting at two per cent for discretionary investment management.
BMO Harris Private Banking, which focuses on high-net-worth households, offers a list of new ways it will free clients from "time-consuming distractions," including:
Personal services (e.g. laundry, groceries)
Home (e.g. locate handyman or housecleaning services)
Moving (e.g. recommending qualified, reputable real estate agent)
Auto (e.g. new automobile search)
Health & Fitness (e.g. research gyms/exercise facilities)
Leisure/Entertainment (e.g. order concert/sports tickets)
Family (e.g. locate emergency daycare)
Personal Travel (e.g. accommodation booking)
Business (e.g. organize/research corporate gifts)
Seasonal (e.g. gift wrapping)
It also can provide access to advice and coaching on personal issues such as relationship counselling.

[harflimon]

I'm so damn busy playing golf and selecting trophy wives, How the hell does society expect ME to take care of my children.

[slothy]

time-consuming distractions= Family

These execs must be crazy, why are they alive? I'm sure death might be viewed as some kind of all-encompassing lifestyle solution..

[Hei Hu Quan]

Quote:I'm so damn busy playing golf and selecting trophy wives, How the hell does society expect ME to take care of my children.

They don't, hence the spate of "nanny" programmes i.e., "Super Nanny", "Nanny 911", etc., etc, ad nauseum.