Citywealth Leaders List interview: 60 seconds with Emily Dawson, Investec Bank (Channel Islands)

Date: 19 Mar 2025

Karen Jones

This week’s 60-second piece is dedicated to Emily Dawson, Head of Private Banking at Investec Bank (Channel Islands)

Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role.

My new role is incredibly exciting and multifaceted.  It’s a rare opportunity to inherit such a strong team with an embedded culture of delivering such high levels of service and expertise.  Investec gives me the autonomy to evolve and continue to build out our world class private banking offering, leveraging all that the group has to offer our clients.

What does a typical day look like for you?

At Investec we thrive on creating lasting relationships,  so I spend a lot of my day talking to colleagues in other parts of our business, ideally in person, looking to share ideas and leverage opportunities that we can collectively deliver for our clients. 

Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.

At Investec we relish being  ‘Out of the Ordinary’ and delivering tailored solutions in often complex situations,  hence every client engagement is unique – for example I’ve recently been working with a Family Office with links back to South Africa.  To support the now globally based generations of the family, the Channel Islands provides a stable and well-regulated location to base their affairs from whilst working alongside our colleagues in South Africa.

What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?

‘You cannot buy time’ and this is a constant challenge for our entrepreneurial clients.  We strive to understand their unique circumstances and ambitions, finding ways that we can add value efficiently along the way, leaving them their valuable time to focus on what they want to do.

What is your proudest professional achievement?

I’m very proud to be a part of the Investec Group – it has such a unique culture which stems from its humble roots in South Africa.  I feel privileged to have been asked to lead this team and to be the steward of our culture for the next phase of our growth.  

What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?

I’ve been fortunate through my career to work with some fantastic leaders from whom I’ve learnt a lot – for me integrity, empathy and approaching everything positively are essential.

Who do you most admire and why?

Not all heroes wear capes or have their name in lights. In my view, many ordinary people are heroic – whether its balancing a busy professional career with family – as I do – or giving up precious time to volunteer and help others through community or charitable initiatives. At Investec we promise to live in our communities, not off them and for me that underpins my core belief that we can all be a bit more heroic in our lives. 

Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?

My family and I love to ski and we’ve just enjoyed a week in Val d’Isere in the French Alps – great snow, wine and cheese, all while spending quality time with my family, what’s not to love?

If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?

My role is very rewarding and the key reason for that is the people I work with every day – both my colleagues and clients. So I think if I ever decided to change career it would have to involve people and teamwork in some way – and if there was an opportunity to travel with the job that would be even better!

How do you relax after a long day?

I feel very lucky to have been born and to live in the Channel Islands.  I can be on the beach straight from work in the summer after a long day.  Having a dip in the sea and watching the sunset is always beautiful – there is something about being near the sea that always puts your day/life into perspective.