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Tucker York, global head of Goldman Sachs Wealth Management, speaks with Global Finance about how shifts along several fronts are redefining the private banking landscape. Goldman won several of Global Finance’s 2026 World’s Best Private Banks awards.
Global Finance: Where are growth and change coming from in the private banking field today?
Tucker York: Nearly everywhere; growth is coming from several directions at once.
At the highest level, global economic expansion continues to create new wealth, particularly in regions where entrepreneurship and innovation are accelerating. Asia remains a major engine, but it’s not confined to one geography. The US continues to generate new wealth at scale, and parts of Europe have seen renewed activity in specific sectors.
Product evolution is another significant driver. Private credit is a good example of an area that has expanded dramatically over the last decade, especially during an era of near-zero interest rates. Even with the recent repricing of markets, demand for differentiated sources of yield hasn’t disappeared.
At the same time, alternative investments more broadly—private equity, infrastructure, specialty lending, and the secondary markets—continue to attract interest as families look for diversification beyond traditional public markets.
Demographics matter as well. Large liquidity events are more common today; founder monetizations, corporate sales, and IPOs are creating new entrants into the ultra-wealthy segment at a steady pace. Coupled with the ongoing generational wealth transfer, this has produced a growing number of households seeking long-term advice, multigenerational planning, and broader strategic support.
And finally, there’s a growth opportunity in awareness and access. Many wealthy individuals are interested in learning more about modern wealth management, spanning governance, philanthropy, next-generation education, tax considerations, and global mobility.
GF: How are your clients thinking about risk today, especially given recent volatility and shifting macro conditions? What is your role in helping them through this?
York: One of the biggest misconceptions in wealth management is the idea that wealthy clients view risk purely through a financial lens. In reality, their sensitivity to risk often reflects personal history, family dynamics, and long-term responsibilities rather than market cycles. Most are less concerned with month-to-month movements and more focused on whether their portfolio can support their goals across decades.
That said, the last several years have tested everyone’s tolerance. Periods of volatility, shifting interest-rate regimes, geopolitical uncertainty: these moments tend to reveal how clients experience risk.
What you often find is that people are comfortable with risk when markets are going up. What they are far less comfortable with is the feeling of uncertainty when markets fall, even if the long-term plan hasn’t changed.
A core part of our role is helping clients stay invested through that uncertainty. The greatest drag on long-term return is often not the market environment but the instinct to de-risk at the wrong time. Wealthier families typically have multigenerational objectives, and that requires discipline: understanding what they own, understanding the purpose of each asset class, and resisting the urge to react to headlines.
While the environment has shifted, the underlying priority hasn’t: helping clients maintain a long-term orientation in a world that constantly tempts them to think short term.
GF: Demand for private equity is growing among wealthy investors. Do you see risks in this trend?
York: Private equity has historically delivered strong returns because investors accept illiquidity, allow managers discretion on capital calls and distributions, and commit to long holding periods. Those structural features make the return profile possible.
When I hear terms like “semi-liquid,” caution is warranted. Liquidity that appears to be available in normal conditions may vanish precisely when investors want it most. If many individuals demand liquidity at the same time, managers may be forced to liquidate assets at inopportune moments, harming everyone in the structure.
Private equity remains an excellent asset class when used appropriately: diversified across managers and vintages and understood in terms of its risks. My concern is largely educational; individuals must understand the nature of the commitment before entering.
GF: How difficult is it to build multigenerational relationships in today’s environment, especially amidst a massive wealth transfer?
York: It’s always been challenging, and it remains one of the most important aspects of the work. The thing clients care most about is their family: not quarterly performance, not tactical tilts. Families want to know that their wealth will support the next generation without overwhelming them.
The massive wealth transfer underway has increased the urgency of multigenerational engagement. Every generation has its own priorities, its own relationship with money, and its own definition of success. Some focus on preservation, others on impact or philanthropy, others on entrepreneurship. The advisor’s role is to help align those perspectives and facilitate communication.
GF: Has the nature of wealth management as a business changed? If so, how?
York: When I started nearly 40 years ago, the model was almost entirely transactional. You called clients about buying or selling stocks and bonds. Ninety percent of our revenue came from trades. Today, that represents less than 10%. The industry has moved decisively to an AUM-based model focused on long-term service and advice.
Another critical shift was the move to open architecture. In the 1990s, clients increasingly asked where the Goldman Sachs partners invested their own money, which had always been a core part of the value proposition. But clients also wanted choice, and it became clear that offering only internal products wasn’t consistent with being a holistic advisor. Today, the model is fully client-oriented: understanding what families need, what keeps them up at night, and how their wealth fits into a multigenerational context. Advice still sits at the center, but the range of services around that advice—planning, reporting, education, philanthropy, governance—has expanded significantly.
GF: How do you see competition playing out in private banking today?
York: Competition plays out on multiple fronts. Large global firms remain significant players, especially those with strong lending capabilities or a willingness to deploy their balance sheet aggressively. That appeals to certain clients but isn’t necessarily what every family wants or needs.
But an equally powerful source of competition comes from firms whose entire message is, “We’re not Wall Street”: registered investment advisors, local firms, boutiques, multi-family offices. They emphasize closeness, independence, and personal attention. In a business built on trust, that resonates but those smaller firms can lack the scale and broader resources clients need.
There’s also competition that’s talked about far less: the competition for talent. Our advisors stay with families for decades. They hold the history, the context, and the family dynamics. Continuity is invaluable. Many institutions, including ones not traditionally seen as direct competitors, try to recruit experienced advisors. Retaining talent and keeping turnover low is essential because it directly affects the stability and quality of client relationships.
Competition is about clients, but it is equally about the people who serve them.
GF: How do you think about the alignment between advisors, clients, and shareholders in a business built on trust?
York: Alignment is fundamental. A wealth manager must be able to sit on the same side of the table as the client. That means no product quotas, no incentives to push specific ideas, no distortion of judgment. Transparency around pricing and incentives is essential.
Advisors aren’t compensated differently for selling proprietary strategies. The economics are structured so that an advisor can freely tell a client, “The internal version is cheaper” or “The external version is better for your needs.” That alignment matters because this business isn’t built on a single transaction; it’s built on the net present value of a relationship that ideally lasts 25 years or more.
Shareholders matter as well, because the business must deliver sustainable returns. But those returns ultimately come from trust-based, long-term client relationships. Incentives must reinforce that long-term orientation. In wealth management, everything—talent retention, client satisfaction, shareholder value—depends on that alignment.
