Private banking for sports professionals
Personal banking and wealth advice for footballer, rugby, cricket, boxing, tennis and golf professionals
Weatherbys Private Bank provides specialist banking and wealth advice for sports professionals across football, rugby, cricket, boxing, tennis and golf. We provide financial planning throughout your career and beyond, income management across fluctuating seasons, tax-efficient structuring of image rights and endorsement income and long-term wealth preservation beyond your sporting career.
- Professional footballers typically earn significant income over a relatively short career window. Weatherbys helps players manage the tax efficiency of salary, signing-on fees, image rights and sponsorship income, and structure long-term investment to replace earned income after retirement.
- Rugby professionals face variable income across domestic and international contracts, often with relatively shorter peak earning periods. Weatherbys helps players plan for a career that may include academy, peak professional and post-playing coaching or media income streams.
- Tennis professionals often operate internationally, with prize money, endorsements and coaching income drawn from multiple jurisdictions. Weatherbys supports multi-currency banking, international lending and cross-border tax compliance in partnership with existing advisers.
- Golfers competing across multiple tours often require sophisticated cash flow management across an extended career. Weatherbys helps with banking, lending against property and investment assets and retirement income planning for a career that may run into a player’s mid-forties and beyond.
Why do sports professionals choose Weatherbys?
- We match you with a dedicated private banker and assistant from day one, who know your circumstances and are available by email, phone or WhatsApp, whenever you need them.
- We value clarity over complexity.
- We’re on your team. We collaborate seamlessly with agents, accountants, lawyers and independent financial advisers to become part of your trusted inner circle.
- We protect your privacy. We’re trusted precisely because we act quickly, but carefully.
- We think long term: Whether you’re at the start of your career or transitioning out of professional sport or planning for life beyond the game, we’ll help you make informed financial decisions at every stage.
Supporting athletes through every stage of their career
Early career: Establish banking, set up tax-efficient structures for salary and image rights and begin pension contributions early to maximise the compounding benefit of a long accumulation period.
Peak earnings: Maximise ISA and pension contributions, manage endorsement and sponsorship income tax-efficiently, while planning property purchases using flexible lending that accounts for income type and contractual structure.
Career transition: Plan for the income change as playing income reduces or stops. Review investment portfolio structure, pension drawdown options and any business interests (coaching academies, media roles) that will replace earned income.
Post-sport life: Ongoing wealth management, inheritance tax planning and estate structuring to ensure long-term wealth is preserved and transferred efficiently.
Day-to-day banking
We think even the simplest banking deserves exceptional service. Our clients value the speed with which we onboard and the peace of mind that comes from knowing their day-to-day banking is handled by someone who knows them personally. It’s everyday banking made seamless, reassuringly simple – and anything but ordinary:
- Fast set-up and onboarding
- Multi-currency capability, including accounts and debit cards in EUR/GBP/CHF
- Seamless, quick and safe switching via the Current Account Switch Guarantee
- Flexible overdrafts
- Digital banking via online banking and the biometric Weatherbys app, along with Apple Pay
- Competitive foreign exchange services for transfers abroad
- No foreign exchange charge or commission on debit card use
- Dedicated support from a private banker, on hand whenever and wherever needed
- Support for non-personal accounts such as property companies
- Managed access for family members/staff (additional cards or online access)
- Accounts for spouse/partner, children and wider family as appropriate
Personal service when you need it most
As a family-owned bank, we offer something different: a genuinely personal service, built around relationships. You will have your own private banker – someone who knows you, understands your world and is easy to contact whenever you need advice or support.
As well as day-to-day banking our services include lending, foreign exchange and investment wealth and advice, always delivered with integrity and the human touch.
How we support sport professionals
We know a sporting life moves fast; careers can peak early and identity, income and lifestyle can shift, sometimes overnight. We also understand the constant pressure that comes with this – managing sudden wealth while supporting family and travelling the world while staying grounded.
How we support footballers
Having worked with professional footballers, their families and agents for many years, we understand how fast life in the game moves. Careers can peak early; contracts, transfers and relocations can happen quickly; income can fluctuate from season to season.
How we support player liaison officers
We understand how much player liaison officers do behind the scenes, from supporting players’ families and co-ordinating logistics to keeping everyday life on track and acting as a filter to distractions. Our role is to make banking effortless and efficient, so your players’ lives run more smoothly – and yours does too.
What you need to know
Investments can go up and down in value and you may not get back the full amount you invest.
Your home may be at risk if you don’t keep up repayments on the mortgage or loan secured against it.
All our mortgages and loans are subject to underwriting and criteria. You must be 18 or over to apply. Terms and conditions apply.
Our sports professional specialists
Sports insights
FAQs
Yes. Weatherbys works with sports professionals and their existing advisers to structure image rights, endorsement and sponsorship income in a tax-efficient way. We coordinate with your accountant to ensure the banking and lending picture is aligned with your overall tax position.
Yes. Weatherbys assesses lending individually, without a reliance on automated credit scoring. We can consider contractual income, signing-on fees, image rights income and investment assets as part of our assessment, giving sports professionals access to lending that many high street banks cannot offer.
No, it’s almost never too early. A pension started at 22 with regular contributions across a 15-year playing career will significantly outperform one started at 35. Weatherbys’ financial planners help structure contributions to make use of the annual allowance efficiently.
A named private banker who understands your world, individual lending decisions, a financial planner with experience of sports income structures and a bank that is only interested in building a long-term relationship and not selling you products.