Wealth Management, Client Trust & Multi-Bank Solutions. Iskra Martin of Azura Partners

Speaker A: Hello, my name is Caroline Garnham from boutique law firm um Garnham, um, Family Office Services. We protect and preserve the wealth of hard working entrepreneurs, but having a good lawyer is only part of the solution. My podcast series how to Keep youp Money draws on my 30 years of experience extensive network of award winning professionals to interview so that you can be better informed on how to keep your money. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter on Caroline's Club Notes from Caroline, where you can read a short topical blog every week and listen to the next episode of how to keep your money. Hello, my name is Caroline Garnham, founder, uh and M. CEO of Caroline's Club. Caroline's Club is where growth is sustained through increased visibility and strategic business development. Professionals often overlook the fact that to win business they need to be visible as a person, not just their brand. Prospective clients are reluctant to appoint a professional until they feel they can trust them and that means getting to know them a bit. The club makes its members visible through these podcasts and promotes them with a digital business card appended to their email signature and the email signature of their junior colleagues. It also works strategically with its members to record responses to case studies with other professionals who work for similar clients. A uh, genuine client first revolution. I am joined today by Iskra Martin, a partner with Azura in Geneva, Switzerland for episode 64 of uh, how to keep your money. Iskra has over two decades of experience in Swiss private banking and investment management. She specializes in managing complex financial portfolios. Welcome Iskreth. It's good to have you on the show.

Speaker B: Hello Caroline. Thank you for having me.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's a delight. You have just won the Wealth Briefing Award in Switzerland for women in wealth Management for your individual contribution for 2026. Congratulations. That's indeed an honour.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker A: This award says more about you than can be found elsewhere and um, probably says more about you than than you would normally say about yourself. I understand you are a, ah, woman of few words. The judges of the award look for professionals who can demonstrate something special, a new approach, a pioneering service, thought leadership and um, problem solving. What did you say to them to convince them to pick you?

Speaker B: Uh, yes, it was an exciting experience. I didn't need to say much because they were all very experienced and knowledgeable. They understood the character of my work without me giving examples there where um, I'm really grateful for them granting me this important award is the appreciation of my efforts and work they demonstrated and I do not take this for granted, that's for sure. So what also Contributed for me to win this award is my dedication to my clients. Unconditional dedication. Time has proven this and to our company. So it's both my ethic code and in my understanding of professional obligations to relentlessly strive to provide the highest quality service expected. That's why they work with me.

Speaker A: That's brilliant. You say that the judges are all experienced and you didn't need to give many examples of the work. There will be several listeners who are not as knowledgeable as your judges. Perhaps you can explain a little bit about the character of your activities, what you actually do for your clients every day coming across your desk.

Speaker B: The days are interesting, let's put it this way. Uh, there are two big parts of the job. The first one is to serve existing clients in the evolving environment. It means that clients who were banking with me through my days at the Swiss private bank whom I moved today to an external asset management, uh, platform such as Azure Partners. So I am still servicing them, I am booking them with different banks. I am building their KYC Know youw Customer profile. I am restructuring their journey of wealth. This is something that is um, very vivid because many of them continue working. So I'm also creating a breakdown of their wealth so that the banks understand the provenance, the origin of the funds onboard them. This is the first stage. The second stage is to explore what type of portfolio investment they need according to their risk appetite, according to their return expectations on return. So together with my colleagues within Azura, the investment advisors, we build a portfolio, we propose it to the client. It's a quite interactive process because some of the positions they like, some of the positions they rather replace. So we come back to them at the end when we are all set, they give their okay and we instruct the banks to purchase securities, type of um, investments, etc. Then we follow these portfolios. Again. Markets are moving so it is a quiet, uh, vivid and interesting material to work on. We also serve the clients in terms of their needs to use their funds independently from the investments, such as personal expenses, purchase of properties, schooling of their children, etc. So this is the first part of the job. The second part is looking for new clients, providing services of clients who have not necessarily been served well or do not yet know what suits their kind of situation. I'll give you an example. If you have a client who has um, always had personal private accounts and suddenly needs uh, to consider his wealth planning, passing the wealth onto their children in a structure that is um, optimized from um, tax perspective, from inheritance Perspective. We work closely uh, with corporate um, service providers who would create the necessary structure, maybe a trust, maybe a foundation, etc. So we first of all provide this kind of service. Then once the structure created, we look for a bank that corresponds to the um, necessity, um, and the conditions of the client. We onboard the client with the bank and then we're back to case A. We start proposing investments, etc. So this is in a nutshell.

Speaker A: Thank you very much. The judges say they look for tangible results with evidence of how you improved client outcomes, increased efficiency and contributed to the growth of Azure. That's no mean task. They were looking for measurable impact and value, uh, creation. How did you explain that to the judges?

Speaker B: This question's essence is pretty much about a successful transition from being in a bank, being an employee or a manager in the bank to being in an external asset management company. Having joined such an external asset management platform like Azura does increase efficiency. The structure is lighter and operates albeit within the regulatory framework. That goes without saying within, without a heavy bureaucratic burden, decisions are taken faster. The client's interest is in the center. We are really centered on the client's interest. There is a flexibility and adaptivity in serving this client, in providing swift and targeted solutions, really, really tailor made for uh, their needs. And as uh, a consequence, once the clients are better serviced, they increase the assets and contribute to our growth. A happy client is a happy banker, to be short. Another important point which contributes to the value creation is to be able to onboard the existing clients in several other banks, maybe in Switzerland or in a different jurisdiction. You know, Azura has offices in Switzerland, in London, in Monaco, in, in Singapore, in the uae, Dubai, now in Abu Dhabi as well, and representation in New York and Miami. So this way we explore the offer and adapt to the client's request. Let's take an example of a client who has his funds held under a trust, a trust structure in a bank. A, he wants to buy a house to one of his children but wants to do a mortgage. Bank A doesn't provide mortgages in the country where the property for purchase is situated. As I work with several institutions in several jurisdictions, I explored the best platform, uh, for this mortgage, which means a, uh, bank that lends in this country. The conditions of the mortgage, the flexibility, the rapidity of service, the solidity of their balance sheet, that's very important as well, etc. And I open an account in this, let's say call it uh, Bank B. This is where I can serve the client in the Most, uh, appropriate way, being an independent asset manager as an employee of a bank. If the bank says we do not, uh, um, I'm making it up with do not finance chalets in the French Alps. You cannot service the client, whereas being in a platform like Azure, I will go and seek for solutions with banks that do mortgages in the French Alps, just as an example. So basically, working with several banks, knowing their conditions, having the right contacts, makes our services much more efficient for the client. We spare them time and effort and negotiate, uh, preferential conditions for them. And this in addition to the trust they have in us based on several decades of working together.

Speaker A: So yeah, that's a really valuable service you're providing for your clients and one that probably many clients don't really understand the need for. But of course, this is why we're talking to you now, so more people can understand. The, uh, judges also look for a client centric approach, which is something very close to my heart. As you know, they look for a superior service. Well, you're obviously providing that, but a focus on the client's needs, testimonials from satisfied clients, and sound advice during complex situation. What did you say to convince them you were worthy of this award?

Speaker B: Iskra, it's not the judges that, uh, one needs to convince, it's the clients who need to believe in you. Uh, no, this is, um, it is this part that the judges saw in me. I believe many of the clients have been with me since the very beginning. So almost 25 years now. Time flies. 20 years is a long time. One builds a relationship of trust, goes through fire together, stands by them in difficult moments, continuously looks for new ways in assisting them, helps with the continuity in transmitting the wealth to their children, to their grandchildren in a smart and secure way, uh, etc. Also, and I will not hide it, some of my clients are suffering a great deal today due to geopolitical and other factors without being involved in any of this. This is where loyalty and countless effort pays. Many of these clients, uh, might suffer being exited by institutions or being abandoned by their service providers. Whereas, uh, if you believe in them, if you know that they didn't do anything wrong, if you're able to mitigate any potential risks, they see that, they appreciate it, and we continue collaborating. So within the regulatory framework and following strictly the rules, we can still find solutions. One just needs to believe and not count the efforts needed to succeed.

Speaker A: So, yeah, working for clients for over 20 years means that you're building trust with those clients, you clients, from my experience don't just want to have an advisor that can advise them and is good at giving advice. They want an advisor, uh, who can anticipate their needs, who can listen to them, who can communicate with them and can understand what they really want, rather than what they think or say they want. Would you agree with that?

Speaker B: Absolutely. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: I mean, you work for clients for generations, and one generation goes into another. How do you build trust with the next generation coming through?

Speaker B: First of all, this is a cultural matter. Children who grow up with names that come at the table, in a conversation or in an email or parents, uh, talk about it, get used to this name. And if the parents are happy, they subconsciously build the trust in this person. Yet when the time comes that they need to be responsible for their own monies, they like creating their own relationship with the person who is entrusted with managing this money. And this is where we as bankers need to permanently recycle, need to permanently go with, uh, as they say in French, l' air du temps, to be up to date, maybe with technologies, maybe with complexity of structures. I'll, um, give a concrete example. Children who come from a country, studied abroad, then they decided to move to a third country to work there. But in the meantime, they bought a house at the seashore in country four. So we have to follow geographically, with the conditions of the economic background and banking background in all four countries, but also with the needs of the children or other relatives to the settler, to the creator, um, of the wealth. So we have to be well informed. We have to understand, as you just rightfully mentioned, we have to listen and we have to show comprehension and willingness to adapt, uh, to their necessity, to their expectations.

Speaker A: Thank you. Iskra, you've been at banker since 2004. 18 years with EFG bank in Switzerland. And then you moved to Azura as a partner in 2022. I note that Azura won the 2026 award for the family office offering. Was their expertise in this area one of the reasons you joined it? I also note they have some 60 partners. Tell me a little bit more.

Speaker B: Yes, we have 60 employees. We are nine or 10 partners, actually. And, um, yes, the change from a bank to an independent asset manager came somehow naturally. Many will share my opinion that in today's environment, its shift is logical, allowing seasoned bankers to serve their clients in a more, uh, diversified, more efficient and flexible manner. And I just described with a larger offer in terms of investment. So at the time, back in 2022, Azura was a very young company. It has just opened its Swiss offices when I joined and I was thrilled by the energy and the willingness to build something different in the sphere of wealth management. So I joined and since then we expand and continue to provide the uh, expected service. Also in a world where we work with two, even three generations, as we just spoke, of the same family, each of these generations having different residents, different needs, different expectations, having a multi jurisdictional platform such as ours allow us to provide tailor made solutions for all of them.

Speaker A: You must be on top of not only your own jurisdiction and the problems, but also the jurisdictions of other areas in which they live, whether that be France, UK or whatever. How do you keep on top of all these multi jurisdictional issues?

Speaker B: We as um, FINMA regulated entity are obliged to do uh, training and tests continuously. We do cross border tests. We permanently need to know what is allowed, what is not when serving clients abroad in terms of um, first of all opening accounts in different jurisdictions but also serving as an investment advisor within these foreign banks. So it is a very regulated framework which uh, needs to be followed. Goes without saying. And the clients are very grateful to have us because this allows them to give us ideas on how they see their money being managed. And we adopt these expectations in what is allowed and what the markets in the country jurisdiction offers.

Speaker A: Interesting. Thank you. Swiss banking has always been the benchmark of good quality client care, confidentiality and privacy. With the world becoming more transparent and privacy has been eroded, how have you seen Swiss banking and investment management change?

Speaker B: I love this question. The answer to it should be as delicate as possible in order not to summarize it into something nostalgic like all the old land Zionist with private banking. So yes, the landscape of private banking has progressively evolved. Let me start with the less positive side. We live today in a much heavier process of onboarding of new clients and annual review for existing clients. This involves the banks requesting supporting documents going back to the very, very beginning of the journey of wealth, sometimes 30 or even more years before that. The challenges we encounter are these that often no paper trail has been archived and few supporting documents can be provided. And this is where the expertise of professionals like me is of help. We build a plausible roadmap, filling the gaps with statistics and information from the period when the wealth was built and little paper were papers were kept. So this helps the clients address the questions of the banks and continue working with them. I also help clients find a new bank with more attractive conditions, better understanding of their needs and a better service if needed. It has become normal today for clients to leave one bank and opt for another one. Uh, however it involves weeks, sometimes months of hard onboarding work, they turn themselves towards us. I have had a few clients who approached banks for non boarding and after literally six or seven months of uh, email ping pong they reached out to us and the problem was resolved um, within three or four weeks because namely we know what language the banks speak, what um, comfort layers they need to receive to be able to open the accounts. The more positive side is that despite the confidentiality and privacy having significantly subsided the last 15 years or so, Swiss banking remains. This is my opinion, but I believe that it does remain a solid and reliable platform. I am um, working with financial institutions in many jurisdictions such as Monaco, the Emirates in Singapore and I can safely say that as much as these have gained popularity and satisfied many of the clients needs, it is my most profound conviction that Swiss private banking does remain the symbol of quality and reliability and stability. What I also wanted to mention last but not least is that I see an um, evolution of Swiss private banking which gives me hope that anything we experience as challenges today is slowly being resolved. There are several small to mid sized banks which today employ advanced platforms and services, higher dynamic and willing to provide a proper private banking service. Employees and I started working with such banks and to my very positive surprise, the service can be compared to the one in the iconic institution several years earlier.

Speaker A: Uh, I think it'll come as a surprise to many people that you're expressing a banking world where different banks provide different services and different quality of service, which is why your services are so needed to be able to steer a roadmap, make a bridge between the client and what the client requires and what the bank and the different types of bank can provide. Would you agree with that?

Speaker B: I will definitely agree with that. As many banks, these many types of services, we're all regulated by the same authority, we all follow the same rules. And this is where the human factor makes the biggest difference. There are people who still carry this Swissness in them in terms of providing a service where the client feels special. Because clients are special, we tend to forget that without them we wouldn't exist. So they do deserve the service we provide. It is a sine quantum condition for me. So we have bankers, we have banks that um, still understand that they wake up early in the morning, they read the emails, we have a dynamic exchange. We're looking for solutions rather than making it even harder for the client to be onboarded or to be serviced by them. So yes, there are many different Types of banks and we experience different level of service. But also, this is the human side. But also in terms of technical servicing, there are banks that specialize more in, uh, specific type of investments, maybe private equity, hedge funds, et cetera. There are banks that specialize in lending. There are banks that also offer crypto possibilities. So even from that perspective, we adopt the needs of the clients and, uh, find the respective financial institution that is the most adequate to serve them.

Speaker A: Yes, I'm sure that what you're saying here is quite an eye opener for a lot of people listening and it will give them great cause for thought. And just as we finish this podcast, a little bit more about, uh, you, you live in Geneva, you speak Bulgarian, English, French, German, Russian and Italian. Where were you brought up and how did you find yourself in Geneva? Was it anything to do with your hobbies, which you say include opera, skiing, spending time with friends and family? Iskra.

Speaker B: Oh, well, speaking of my Italian, it's more through gestures rather than through sophisticated grammar. No, I'm joking. Well, I was born and brought up in Sofia, Bulgaria, and I came to Switzerland at, ah, the age of 18. My parents sent me to study in Switzerland. I studied in Fribourg. Then I moved to Geneva where I raised my two children. My children today are aged 26 and 24. The Russian and English came naturally back in my teen years. And then German and French, uh, two out of the three official languages in Switzerland were a necessity to master if one wants to build something in a country that welcomes them. The way Switzerland adopted me. So that's it pretty much from a linguistic perspective. Uh, hobbies. Yes, hobbies. Well, one needs a lot of time to afford having hobbies. And this for me is the most precious currency. So yes, um, being out in the mountains at the fresh air, or spoiling, um, myself and my family with an opera or a theater is the summon of luxury for somebody as being just me. So yes, I also like reading a book quietly, which I find very resourceful. And, uh, then that allows me on a Monday morning to be back to the battlefield. Yes.

Speaker A: Yeah, sounds like a fantastic place to bring up children with the mountains to go skiing, the chalets, the hop across the border to take in a nice opera just out of interest. I live at the moment in the country and across the lane there's a full blown opera house with red plush seats and six operas.

Speaker B: Amazing.

Speaker A: I enjoy that, which was quite, uh, unusual. But it sounds like a fabulous place. I like you think it's very, very important to invest time with family because when you're old they hope that they will not only give you huge pleasure but will also look after you as well.

Speaker B: So we are not there yet. We are not there yet.

Speaker A: Every day gets a little bit is it's been a real pleasure for you joining me on how to keep your money and sharing your experience and its benefits for the work you do for your clients. Congratulations again on your award and I hope that this podcast says more about your skills and expertise than you would normally speak about. I think you are truly a person of few words but you do carefully. If you'd like to learn more about our client first revolution and to be more visible for the work you do for your clients, please get in touch and learn more about how you can grow your business by being visible and strategic. Iskra, thank you again for sharing your story with us.

Speaker B: Uh, thank you Caroline. The place pleasure was all mine. Thank you.