"That's why about half the world's Islamic banking clients are not Muslims."
And they can report what they find to portfolio managers without fear of angering those potential banking clients.
Analysts often play key roles in attracting banking clients, which can look forward to regular research reports that may support the stock.
The company's business model is to help commercial banking clients improve their data analysis and become more efficient.
UBS's private banking clients typically have more than $1 million to invest.
They also expect the firm to agree to limit the involvement of analysts in pitching prospective banking clients.
Among other things, Merrill agreed yesterday that analysts' pay would no longer be linked to their ability to bring in new banking clients.
Compare that to fighting over money for a banking client, and it looks like we're doing the heavy lifting.
In particular, it wanted to make sure that auditors told it promptly of any concerns they might have about a banking client.
To woo private banking clients, one thing Goldman may need to overcome is its own success in aggressively investing money for the firm itself.