Private banks have the deep pockets required to secure exclusive sponsorship rights to the world’s top sporting events. Jamie Crawley picks out five of the biggest summer sporting fixtures, sponsored by your private bank.
With the money to join the most exclusive golf clubs or follow their favourite teams home and away, high-net-worth-individuals count sport among their most enjoyed and actively pursued interests.
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No surprise then that private banks see sport as a fruitful market to offer their sponsorship.
While the winter months see the bulk of the football and rugby seasons, not to mention the Super Bowl and major sporting events Down Under, spring and summer in Europe and North America present a more affluent sporting calendar for high-net-worths.
PBI looks at which private banks have capitalised on this, securing long-standing sponsorship deals with teams and competitions, ensuring their name is front and centre where their clients go to enjoy the sun, sip champagne and immerse themselves in their favourite sports.
Private banks sponsorship of Formula 1 a natural fit
The world’s biggest private bank, UBS, has a long-standing association with the world’s most popular motorsport through its sponsorship of the Mercedes team and the Monaco Grand Prix.
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By GlobalData
The highlight of the F1 calendar for many, the grand prix taking place each May in Monaco is one of the most glamourous and prestigious sporting events in the world.
Research from WealthInsight last year showed that an astonishing one in three Monaco residents are millionaires. The sponsorship deal then is a natural fit for the Swiss private bank, as one of the world’s leading custodians of wealthy people globally.
Investec upholds affinity between private banks and horse racing
Much like motor racing, horse racing is a popular sport among the wealthy. South African bank Investec has capitalised on this in its sponsorship of Britain’s richest and most prestigious horse race: the Derby.
Taking place at the start of June at Epsom in Surrey, the Derby carries a prize fund of at least $1.9 million.
Investec secured the headline sponsorship for the event in 2009, signing a ten-year extension in 2011, which was subsequently renewed taking the deal through to 2026.
BNP Paribas sponsorship of French Open has lasted nigh on half a century
The Eurozone’s largest private bank, BNP Paribas, has been the official sponsor of Roland Garros, better known as the French Open, for the last 46 years.
The French Open is Europe’s most prestigious tennis tournament outside of Wimbledon. The sponsorship deal is viewed by the French banking group as an integral part of its corporate and cultural identity.
Tennis is France’s second most popular sport after football and its flagship tournament takes place in Paris in May and June every year.
JP Morgan provides Home of Cricket with “most significant” sponsorship deal
It is uncertain how well versed American private banks are with cricket, but JP Morgan lends its name to one of the most recognisable structures in the English summer game: the media centre at Lord’s cricket ground.
The slightly unusual looking building, which has been compared to both an abandoned alien spacecraft and Cherie Blair’s mouth, sits at the Nursery End of the Home of Cricket.
JP Morgan’s name has adorned the media centre since 2011, with Jon Robinson, head of commercial for MCC, Lord’s’ owners, deeming the American banking giant “the most significant commercial sponsor that MCC has ever worked with.”
Citi plays ball in sponsorship of Mets ballpark
A more natural corporate relationship for American private banks would be found in the USA’s own national summer pastime, baseball.
One of the most prominent examples of this is the ballpark of the New York Mets, Citi Field in Queen’s.
Built and opened in time for the start of the 2009 MLB season, the stadium is named for Citigroup, the American bank having secured the naming rights three years earlier, lasting until 2026 to the tune of $20m a year.
