Private Banker vs. Fee-only Financial Advisor?

One of the primary reasons is that through a private banker, you would have access to products more customized to your needs than what the retail market can offer. The retail market, while having quite a number of products, still remains a market that aims to serve the mass market and mass affluent.

Examples include special structured products, access to institutional level products, better rates on FD, etc. Also not to mention intangible perks like preferential banking hotline, priority queues, etc. However there are restrictions such as the range of products too, e.g. bancassurance whereby DBS only carries Manulife products, OCBC has GE, etc.

In the end, there is no right or wrong, but choose someone you can work with and trust to give the advice that will benefit you.