The interview: From market volatility to private capital, Michael Saadie on guiding families through generational wealth

As global markets continue to swing between uncertainty and opportunity, Australia’s high-net-worth families are reassessing how they preserve, deploy, and transfer wealth.

At the centre of this shifting landscape is NAB Private, which today oversees one of the most comprehensive wealth, advisory, and philanthropic platforms in the country. With 185 years of advisory heritage behind it, the bank sits at the intersection of private finance, family governance, and long-term capital stewardship.

In this exclusive interview with Boulevard, Michael Saadie, executive for NAB Private Wealth, discusses how clients are responding to ongoing volatility, why fixed income, alternative assets and private markets are gaining renewed attention, and what the largest transfer of wealth in history means for families and advisers alike.

Boulevard: 2025 has been another unusual and volatile year. What have you seen and what’s the sentiment among your clients? 

Michael Saadie: We had an amazing year in terms of activity levels all the way through. The thing is, clients were just shifting what they were doing. There was a huge amount of liquidity in the market—more than I’ve seen in many, many years. Given the volatility in the first half, we saw a major uptick in demand for fixed interest, and our bond capability and bond trading went through the roof. In the first six months of the year, we more than doubled the activity of the previous year. So things started to shift in that direction.

There were also a lot of monetisation events in this marketplace—many families that had built great businesses and then sold during the year. A good example, which is on the public record, is Chemist Warehouse. That’s just one example, but there were many others, though not on the same scale. There was a lot of activity around getting them set in terms of philanthropy, their foundations, investment profiles, and making acquisitions.

Blvd: And how does NAB Private address this market—what’s the client profile, and what’s the point of difference?

Saadie: NAB has a private bank that handles highly structured lending for complex HNW families, along with deposit-taking and a transactional capability. Then we have investment advisers—we bought Citi’s wealth business, and with that came another sixty or so investment advisers. They provide bespoke investment opportunities for clients, including structuring and related needs.

Over and above that, we have NAB Trade for our self-directed wealth component. On that platform, we have about 600,000 clients—ranging from UHNW individuals who are self-directed to retail clients. And then we also have JBWere, the largest and oldest advisory firm in the country. 

This year, we’re celebrating 185 years of advice. So when you add all that together, we have the most comprehensive offer in the marketplace.

When you think about that, our clients are largely at the top end. They use all of these facilities. Given we’re the biggest business bank in the market, we look after business owners, help them preserve what they’ve built, and assist them with the next stage—what they want to do with the business. That includes preparing for succession, transitioning to the next generation, and considering philanthropic planning and future structures. We’re doing a lot of that work now, which many other major trading banks can’t do. Other organisations can only provide one slice of advice, whereas we can deliver the full, comprehensive service. That puts us in a very enviable position.

Our clients range from UHNW individuals who are investing and building their capital base, to professional services partners in leading legal and accounting firms—people whose remuneration and payment structures we understand intimately. We work with executives of publicly listed companies, helping them navigate the fact that the majority of their wealth is tied to the company they work for, and showing them how to diversify. For example, with partners of accounting firms, we ensure they’re set up for success without compliance breaches. PwC partners can trade on NAB Trade, but all conflict companies are blacked out—they simply cannot trade them. These are the kinds of things we do differently.

For medical practitioners, we let them focus on what they’re best at, as specialists, while we help with their wealth growth plans through JBWere and our investment advisers. 

It’s quite unique in how we tailor different propositions for different cohorts of clients.

Blvd: We hear a lot about the current, and largest, transfer of wealth. With 185 years of experience in this space, what changes are you seeing in both the transfer, and the next generation?

Saadie: If you think about the macro for wealth management—both in this country and globally—it’s one of the biggest financial services opportunities. Here in Australia alone, just under four trillion dollars will shift through intergenerational wealth transfers.

There are a couple of things we’re really cognisant of. We’ve done research indicating that around 80 per cent of this wealth will initially transfer to women, typically the wife, and often with the oldest daughter taking on responsibility thereafter. What we’re doing is ensuring we have the right people looking after these individuals, which includes hiring and growing more female advisers.

Another key trend we’re seeing is that the appetite of this new generation is very different from that of the families that originally created the wealth. Many are focused on impact investing—ensuring their investments align with their personal beliefs. They also want advice, but they want the flexibility to manage some things themselves, digitally. So we’re investing heavily in digital engagement, allowing clients to self-serve where they prefer, while still providing full advisory support when needed.

We’re also seeing more families wanting to leave legacies through philanthropy. Philanthropic advice is growing rapidly. We are the largest philanthropic provider in Australia through JBWere and our family advisory business. This is something quite unique—helping families structure their giving, navigate challenges, and develop family charters, which no one else in the market currently offers.

Blvd:  What are the biggest challenges your clients bring to you, and how do you go about solving them?

Saadie:  Well, I think the biggest challenge is readiness for these major events. Once again, we’ve done research—we are the biggest business bank, and we asked them about their thoughts on succession. About 30 per cent of our clients indicated that they are in a good position for succession—selling, or passing the business on to the next generation. Another 30 per cent have a plan in mind but haven’t taken any steps yet. The remainder haven’t given it any thought at all.

So the biggest challenge is helping clients who don’t know what they don’t know. That’s why sitting around the table, having deep conversations, bringing in the right expertise, and starting to shape a plan is both a challenge and a great opportunity.

Another significant challenge is family dynamics—navigating them and ensuring that the process works for everyone involved. That’s where our role as a relationship-focused business becomes absolutely critical.

Blvd: You touched on values-based investing—can you speak to what that typically looks like, and how you get involved?

Saadie:  We have a team that is responsible for identifying specific opportunities in impact investing and how those might play out. We also have a dedicated team focused on alternative investments and private markets. With these teams, we can tailor offerings based on each client’s needs.

For example, I met with one of the major families yesterday. They have three children, all very different in their investment appetites. One of them is personally involved in fundraising for Indigenous initiatives, while the others are primarily focused on building wealth and returns. We need to tailor the investment portfolio to each of their needs. For the child focused on social impact, the Impact Investing team works to provide specific investments that generate returns while meeting her criteria. It’s really about tailoring our approach and having the different capabilities across our products to deliver on those needs.

Blvd: We often hear that volatility is the new normal. How are you and your clients adapting to that backdrop?

Saadie:  We’re seeing a significant uptick in clients moving into fixed interest. They’re also looking at derivatives to minimise downside risk, which is something we focus on heavily. We assess their risk appetite and tolerance, then help cap potential losses while providing opportunities to achieve appropriate returns.  

There’s also been a strong push into gold. On our NABtrade platform, one of the biggest trends over the last six months has been individuals buying gold ETFs. Bond holdings have increased considerably as clients look for mild risk with reasonable returns—for example, many are happy with a bond portfolio producing around six to six and a half per cent.

Clients are also seeking global and offshore diversification, which has become much more pronounced over the past five years. Investment strategies now vary by region: in Victoria, for instance, commercial real estate is a major focus due to the highly taxed environment, whereas some are buying property in Singapore or south-east Queensland—a trend that wasn’t evident two years ago.

Overall, there’s much more excitement in international markets. NABtrade reflects this, with trade volumes in the US, Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore rising significantly over the last three years.

Blvd: Right. I was going to ask—which international markets are of interest, and is it the younger generations driving that, or are older generations looking to expand beyond Australia?

Saadie: Yes. On our NABtrade platform, which is self-directed, it’s primarily the younger generation investing in the US. They’ve been particularly excited by what they’ve seen over the last five to six years with the “Magnificent Seven” and similar trends.

Over the past two years, we’ve also seen a significant increase in interest in European markets, driven by activity and improving performance there. UHNW and HNW clients have always invested offshore, but now they’re taking more interest in direct investment opportunities. There’s a growing focus on global diversification to reduce exposure to purely Australian risk.

Blvd: Sure. To what extent does real estate play a role in this?

Saadie: Yes. Real estate is at the centre of everyone’s portfolio. To be perfectly candid, we have a very large mortgage book that supports many HNW clients, as well as a substantial commercial real estate book. Real estate has always been a core component of every portfolio for UHNW and HNW families, as well as emerging HNW clients within the mass affluent segment.

This could include their primary home, a second home, or investments in REITs. Investment in REITs has started to shift somewhat from Australia to offshore opportunities, but real estate remains front and centre in every portfolio. I can honestly say it is a key asset on everyone’s balance sheet.

Blvd: Yes. Are you seeing a rise in interest in alternative assets? 

Saadie: Yes, definitely. If you think about the public markets here in Australia, private markets are now seeing more inflows on a daily basis than public markets. The dynamic we’re witnessing is that public markets in Australia are actually becoming smaller compared to private markets. This includes alternative investments, private equity, private credit, and similar opportunities. We’re seeing this segment grow steadily, which is why we’ve been investing heavily in our private markets capability.

We’re also fortunate to have a strong institutional bank that works with our institutional clients. This allows us to offer quite exclusive deal flow to our private clients, where they can participate in capital raises and unique investment opportunities. Private markets are becoming a major influence across all types of portfolios.

Blvd: Right. What values do you and your team, and the bank as a whole, bring to this space, and how do you think that impacts the delivery for clients?

Saadie: In terms of our values, being an institution like NAB, we have strict protocols around reputational risk and compliance, with zero tolerance for breaches. Our disciplines in offering anything to clients—through committees, product committees, and formal processes—are very rigid. Unless a product passes through all of these checks and meets every requirement, clients will not see it.

From a values perspective, our first priority is zero tolerance for anything that could pose a reputational risk. Secondly, there is absolute rigour around every single product that makes it onto our approved product list.

Blvd: Sure. And finally, what are you still learning in the space of private finance and family banking?

Saadie: The biggest learning is that the UHNW and HNW segment is highly individual—every client is different, with complex financial requirements. Everything needs to be tailored; there’s very little that can follow a cookie-cutter approach. It’s about understanding clients at the deepest level, doing proper account planning, and tailoring solutions to their specific needs.

Even something like providing a mortgage for a HNW client can be complex. Many are asset-rich but may not have the cash flow required. In Australia, we have responsible lending guidelines, so the challenge is how to tailor solutions for HNW clients while staying compliant. That’s something we do very differently.

The key point is that our positioning in the marketplace is unique—we have the most comprehensive offer. A client experiences it at its best when we deliver an integrated, end-to-end solution: transactional services, lending, investment advisory, full advisory through JBWere, self-directed channels via NABtrade, and the largest philanthropic advisory and family advisory services in the country. No other provider can offer all of that in one place.

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