Reading Client Concentration Without Alarmism

Every desk has concentration. A handful of names often carry a large share of fees or credit exposure. The useful question is not whether concentration exists, but whether the RM and the team lead share a calm, current picture of it.

We prefer three lenses: revenue share, exposure share, and relationship dependency—how many other decision-makers sit behind a single introducer or family office. A desk can look diversified on revenue while remaining fragile on introducer links.

Alarmist charts that paint every high percentage in red tend to shut down discussion. Better practice is to show the numbers plainly, then ask what would happen if one household paused activity for a year. That conversation belongs in a quiet room with the RM, not in a packed morning huddle.

For Bangkok desks covering mixed Thai and regional clients, currency and product mix can hide true concentration. Separate fee income by segment before you declare the book balanced. A commercial book that looks even across ten names may still lean on one industry corridor.

Use concentration reviews as a planning aid for the next outreach cycle, not as a scorecard. When the memo ends with ranked conversation starters instead of blame, RMs actually open it again.

Back to field notes · Request a briefing