Citywealth Leaders List, 60 second interview – Aileen Wallace, Weatherbys Private Bank
This week’s 60 seconds Citywealth Leaders List interview is dedicated to Aileen Wallace, FinTech Non-Executive Director at Weatherbys Private Bank.
Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role.
As a non-Executive Director (NED), my role is to be a critical friend, providing the executives with strategic guidance to help the organisation be profitable long-term and sustainable for both clients and other stakeholders.
What does a typical day look like for you?
The typical day of a NED doesn’t have a drum beat of repetitive tasks. What it’s really about is making connections with individuals in the business that you represent and getting to know them. Then when you read their Board Papers and the recommendations that they’re making, you understand their thinking better because you understand them as people.
I regard myself as ‘in the business on the board’, not just ‘on the board’. I really make an effort to get to meet as many colleagues as I can and that helps me with that strategic focus and understanding how I can help the business.
Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.
As a NED, you don’t get involved in operational types of activities, but you have to be present for clients. Just before I joined the board at Weatherbys, I had the pleasure of attending the Edinburgh Christmas client drinks. It was great because as well as meeting lots of colleagues, I was able to meet clients and hear first-hand what they think about the service. I knew it was good – the latest Net Promoter Score was 84, which is probably the highest score of any private bank. But it was really encouraging to hear them talking so positively.
What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?
Our clients are like everyone else. They have life events like births and losses and career builds and exits. They have families to support and they have assets to protect for the future. The role of Weatherbys is to support each of them through those life events and to make sure that we’re also future orientated for the next generation. That means focusing on how we’re using technology to be what the business calls “100% human, 100% digital”. That sounds like 200%, so in a typical Weatherbys fashion we’re trying to overachieve! For me it’s about continuing to innovate for clients to free everyone’s time without diminishing the personalisation and strong relationships.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
There’s a lot that’s happened in my life. I think back to things I was proud of at particular points, but I think I’m a bit like a piece of art. That sounds like I think I’m fabulous! What I really mean is there’s always a new interpretation. I’m interested in art because my son’s an art graduate, so a lot of my references come from there. I’m most proud of hearing how others describe and recommend me, because that’s a check to myself about dynamically being my best self and giving my best self.
What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?
Creating a community that gives you energy and creativity with a blend of different personalities that don’t always think the same as you do. If you build that community and empower those individuals in the right way, as they become lifted you become lifted. It’s also important to be human – to show yourself!
Who do you most admire and why?
Having a technology and innovation lens, I immediately think of Ada Lovelace, the mother of computer programmes. She used both sides of her brain – the left side predominantly because she was a mathematician, the right side because she understood patterns and puzzles and could be innovative about conceptual design into execution. She was 36 when she died, and her biggest innovation was turning what was a rudimentary calculator into the first programming language. And this was in the 1840s when attitudes to women were very different. I’m a real foodie. She’s the one person that I’d love to have dinner with because I would be in absolute awe of her.
Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?
I am lucky to have been on a few trips in the past year. My daughter and I had a trip to Miami. She tricked me into thinking this was for her 21st but we went in May and then, of course, a couple of weeks before her 21st in November she said: “Oh, shall I tell you what I would like for my birthday?” She’s going to do well in life.
My son and I went to Chania in Greece, where we sat on the beach for a week and explored the local art community together.
My partner and I just relaxed and chilled on a lounger in the Canaries for a week, too. Please don’t think me too bourgeois for having a few holidays, but I’m an only child of two only children. Family and relationships are important, and sometimes you need to segregate so that everyone feels just as important.
If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?
If I wasn’t in this industry I like to imagine I’d be making champagne. I’d like to start my champagne Master’s Programme this year.
How do you relax after a long day?
I like to cook and to bake. It does my waistline no favours, but I love being home and just pottering around my kitchen.
If you could recommend one person in the private wealth industry who would it be, and what would you say about them?
I’m going to take a more egalitarian approach to this. Here’s praise to all of the innovators and all the creatives who are thinking about the future of wealth, whether that’s about broadening accessibility for my son and daughter’s generation so they can understand how to build wealth and what that means to them, or whether it’s thinking of our client base at Weatherbys and delivering a continually enhanced experience.
Weatherbys’ Citywealth Leaders List profile
Subscribe to the Citywealth Weekly Newsletter to learn more about Private Wealth Management.
Read more:
Racehorse Ownership: What You Need to Know | Citywealth News
Top 25 Private Bankers 2024 | Citywealth Top List
Top Trends – William Morris, Weatherbys Bank
Citywealth Leaders List: Top 25 Private Bankers 2025
Senior Private Banker Weatherbys Shirley Coe Insights | Citywealth News
Horses and race courses with Weatherbys Private Bank | Citywealth News. Weatherbys Private Bank
Weatherbys Private Bank launches expatriate service | Citywealth News
60 seconds – Tom Jonason, Weatherbys Private Bank
Citywealth Leaders List, 60 second interview – Emily Dreas, Bank of America Private Bank
This week's 60 seconds Citywealth Leaders List interview is dedicated to Emily Dreas, Managing Director, Senior Market Executive at Bank of America Private Bank.
Private: Citywealth Leaders List, 60 second interview – Ipshita Bhuwania, 360 ONE Wealth
This week's 60 seconds Citywealth Leaders List interview is dedicated to Ipshita Bhuwania, Private Client Partner, 360 ONE Wealth.