Arab Bank (Switzerland) has decided to give up its Zurich branch and dislocate the business activities to Geneva, according to information obtained by finews.ch. About 30 jobs are affected by the move away from Zurich.
Nasri V. Malhamé, chief executive officer of Arab Bank (Switzerland), confirmed the information obtained by finews.ch. The bank had thought long and hard before launching the project, he said, adding that the main aim had been to make the bank fit for the future.
Arab Bank (Switzerland) will move 15 jobs in letters of credit and client administration from Zurich to Geneva. A further 12 jobs in the back office and in IT will probably be outsourced to third-party firms. Five relationship managers and one assistant will keep their jobs in Zurich, with the office on Claridenstrasse remaining.
Generous Redundancy Plan
The move to Geneva will be completed within 12 months at the latest, when the current property contract at the Zurich Oerlikon site expires. Malhamé said that Arab Bank had established a generous redundancy plan, not least because the employees in Zurich most had been with the bank for years. The company will offer some of them a job at the site in Geneva, but it is unlikely that many will take up the offer.
Arab Bank (Switzerland) is a sister company of Arab Bank (plc) that was founded in Jerusalem in 1930 and today is domiciled in Jordan. Arab Bank (plc) is listed in Jordan and has some 20,000 shareholders with major owners based in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Geneva Edges Ahead of Zurich
Arab Bank (Switzerland) had established its business in Zurich in 1962, catering first to foreign customers. With some major clients domiciled in the German-speaking part of Europe in the 1960s, setting up its business in Zurich made sense for Arab Bank (Switzerland), Malhamé told finews.ch. Over the years, Geneva gained in importance and the bank moved its headquarters to Geneva from Zurich in 2012.
Arab Bank (Switzerland), which is mainly active in private banking, has established itself in the trade financing business in the past eight years to compensate for a potential decline in earnings from wealth management.
Diversification Pays Off
The two segments today contribute about 50 percent of the banks earnings each and guarantee the long-term profitability, according to Malhamé. It has about three to four billion francs in assets under management and doesn't exclude acquisitions in the near future.
Arab Bank (Switzerland) employs about 80 people in Geneva and is currently evaluating an expansion within the building it owns as well as in further properties.
