LGT-ABN Amro merger poses cultural challenges

LGT Bank was confirmed yesterday as the buyer of ABN Amro’s Asian wealth management business – but there is a lot of hard work to come, say sources, pointing to cultural differences between the firms.  The central motivation behind the merger – and the consolidation trend in private banking generally – is clear: the need for economies of scale. Both LGT, with $25 billion in Asian assets under management, and ABN Amro, with $20 billion, were seen as lacking the size necessary to su…