The Mellon wealth centers, in contrast to the ING approach, offer normal banking services.
Unlike the employees at Mellon's wealth centers, those at the Internet cafes do not cash checks or post deposits.
There are three other offices in California with plans to open offices in wealth centers in other states.
The fact that residents of these wealth centers bring in over $100,000 per year is hardly surprising.
But away from China's traditional wealth centers, in cities like Kunming and Zhengzhou and in vast rural areas, the roads are populated by entirely different vehicles: bicycles, scooters and Western knockoff cars bearing the badges of obscure Chinese brands.
The premier Asian wealth management center.
"Being surrounded by the E.U. and a significant wealth management center, Switzerland has chosen to make this move earlier rather than later," said Luc Thévenoz, a law professor at the University of Geneva.
The recent gestures by Luxembourg and Austria further risk Switzerland's position as the world's largest private wealth management center, built up over decades by banks that have relied on the country's studied political neutrality and legal stability to attract wealthy clients.
Also, Switzerland's worldwide status as a wealth management center has suffered from the troubles at UBS. "They have a great reputation to protect," said Harald Benink, a finance professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and chairman of the European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, a private advisory group.
Mr. Vardanyan is a Founding Partner and Vice-Chairman of the International Advisory Board of Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, as well as Chairman of the SKOLKOVO Institute for Emerging Market Studies and the founder and Chairman of the Expert Council of the school's Wealth Transformation Center.
