There is more than one way to reach the nation's wealthy clients. While the City of London has a large concentration of wealth management firms and private banks, strong demand is also emanating from the regional areas. In fact, it is estimated (by Coutts) that 80% of the UK's wealthy individuals are based outside London, which means the industry must look beyond the square mile to capture this clientele.

Offering a branch network is clearly seen as beneficial. Both Barclays and Coutts believe this to be key to success.

John Williams, head of UK private banking at Coutts, sees its branch network as differentiating itself from its peers. Indeed Coutts has been specifically targeting regional business over the past two years and has embarked on discussions with on-the-ground people such as senior council members, businesses and professional services firms to determine whether there is space in any one location for a private bank offering.

The result has sometimes been surprising. He says: "When we opened an office in Liverpool there were a lot of raised eyebrows. However it's been a success."

He adds that the next planned opening is to be in Milton Keynes at the end of the summer which will capture a huge area of wealth from St Albans and up the M1 corridor to Northampton.

Meanwhile the approach at Citibank is different. Clients are serviced by a team of on-the-road advisors that visit clients. Its ideal client has a liquid net worth of £5m.

Peter Charrington, head of UK private banking at Citigroup says: "Because we deal with fewer individuals of higher net worth, we feel the best way to meet their needs is to have people go out to them rather than try and operate a network of branches."

Just as the UK's wealth is not simply confined in London, nor does it stem from one source either. Clearly, the old inherited aristocratic wealth still exists but has now been overtaken by other sources of wealth such as entrepreneurs. Wealth stemming from the UK's ethnic communities is now considerable too and those enjoying short-term but lucrative careers in show business or sport also constitute a small but significant number.

Indeed wealth has been generated in different areas for various reasons and people also tend to live away from where their wealth has been generated, according to Heather Maizels, executive director at Barclays Private Bank.

She cites traditional wealth typically coming from Cornwall or parts of East Anglia, entrepreneurial wealth from Manchester or Birmingham and professional wealth being based in London and other key city areas. "There is also a big growth in entrepreneurs in commercial property and increasingly, wealth being created in support services and outsourcing type business," she says.

A huge growth area in recent years has been commercial and residential property. However varying yields in different parts of the country have led to different growth patterns across the country which is reflected in where the pockets of property-related wealth lie.

Cardiff and Bristol have both done well and property developers in Manchester, Liverpool and London have also been successful. Science parks have also attracted wealth with Cambridge, for instance, having a core centre of wealth that is built around the success of the local science parks and the local investment made in them.

Sportsmen also require wealth management services particularly debt with flexible repayment terms and advice on how to make the proceeds of a relatively short career last a lifetime. Another hunting ground for wealth managers is the UK's ethnic communities which can be either resident non-domiciled or onshore, and tends to be clustered in major cities.

The Indian community, for example, is substantial and its individuals tend to be highly entrepreneurial and prepared to work hard all their lives. "Large international groups like Citigroup do well in this area as they are perceived to have the global reach necessary to service international communities," says Charrington.

Finally last but not least, the number of wealthy women is also increasing. Maizels says: "Women are significant holders of wealth and while there are more women of wealth in the cities, successful women entrepreneurs are truly nationwide."

But with such a diversity in terms of who the wealthy are, do wealth managers need to employ a huge variety of strategies to meet various demands? Are their wants and needs quite similar?

Maizels thinks that visibility is a key issue, with those based in cities likely to be much more comfortable openly accessing wealth management services than those based in rural areas. Accordingly, city dwellers are also likely to demand more control and involvements over their assets and have a stronger wish for active involvement in investment decisions. "A lot depends on how much time the clients want to devote to wealth management. What we find is that the new wealthy are much more informed and want to have much more involvement," she says.

Additionally, operating in a variety of areas, rather than just maintaining wealth, allows wealth managers to service a client's needs throughout his or her life and also to prepare to pass on wealth through the generations. Consequently services such as credit, M&A advice and transactions and indeed philanthropy are now commonplace.

Williams comments: "We are interested in talking to people worth from about £500m in net assets upwards. Doing so allows us to get to know people before they have made it big and meet their needs as they grow their wealth and then as they turn to preserving it in later life. This is particularly relevant when you consider the large amount of entrepreneurial wealth coming through where people need the right structures in place to create the wealth in the first place."

Charrington agrees and offers up his own examples. "Clients in the property business tend to look to us for enhanced cash management as their business relies upon having good cashflow. They want better yields on cash deposits and also tend to quite like private equity. Ethnic clients meanwhile quite like trading currency and its derivatives and also show a keen interest in commodities. There is often a history of trading in the family."

So how do such individuals make contact with private banks? Clearly co-branding and referrals from other firms such as lawyers and accountants remain key, as do personal recommendations. But sponsorship of key events or companies is another way to make contact with potential clients and one being increasingly favoured by wealth managers.

"We get our clients from a variety of sources but obviously the ideal one is a referral from existing clients. We also have links with other services such as lawyers and accountants and select marketing and financial sponsorship in order to target niche areas like clients wishing to buy private aircraft," Charrington says.

Coutts meanwhile sponsors the Welsh National Opera and 'entrepreneur of the year' and is also involved in a number of theatre projects.

Indeed it seems the market is a good place to be in at the moment as there are a lot of high-quality banks vying for a piece of the action. Five or six years ago the choice of services and organisations was not as great and certain instruments, like private equity for example, were available only to a select few. Big banks can also offer open architecture which is now seem as vital. Service remains a real differentiator as well.

The ability for clients to be able to access online trading tools has also assumed increased importance. Williams comments: "There is evidence to show that the younger generation now consider communication via electronic methods to be as important as face-to-face meetings. But we can also boast a very low staff turnover so people can also build long-lasting relationships built on trust and longevity of experience."

Charrington thinks that the growth of the market means that position is important. "Because wealth creation continues to grow apace then the market will grow further and it's all about deciding where you want to be in that market. We have decided to concentrate on our core of upper end clients and anticipate considerable growth over the next few years but will always look to retain our cutting edge of being an intimate boutique," he says. wealth

Where is the money?

A survey by Barclays at the end of last year found that about half of the wealthiest areas in England and Wales can be found in the North.

Both salary and cost of living were compared to come up with figures that show the actual value of disposable income. Rather than London and the Home Counties coming out on top, areas like Hexham in Northumbria, and Rushcliffe near Nottingham came out favourably. There would have been more northern areas in the top 50, but the increase in house prices in the North-West and Yorkshire over the last two years has pushed up the cost of living in those regions relative to the rest of the country.

But the South is still no slouch with Kensington and Chelsea leading overall with the cities of London and Westminster second. Tatton in Cheshire, Sheffield Hallam, Cotswolds, Leeds North-East, Altrincham and Sale and Macclesfield all fared well in the survey.

The regional split for the real wealthiest areas is the South East 11, London seven, Yorkshire six, North West, East and West Midlands each with five, East and South West with four each, North East two and Wales one.

But although Northern towns in general lost out due to big house price increases expectations are high with such areas expected to attract long-term wealth, giving rise to a plethora of wealthy individuals and families rather than limited wealth belonging to a few key individuals.

Manchester, for example, has a commuter belt boasting more millionaires than those of any other major city in Britain and they get wealthier year by year. Its wealth stems from both old and new money with the historical cotton barons retaining wealth but being swiftly taken over in number by entertainers and entrepreneurs. The area also has the largest concentration of houses changing hands for more than £1m and Alderley Edge, to the south west of the City and former home of Posh n Becks, has more millionaires per head than any other place outside of Mayfair.

Regional opportunities