Talk about the closure of J. Safra Sarasin's German branch isn't dying down even as the bank itself keeps mum. It may yet end in tears.

«J. Safra Sarasin Pulls the Plug in Germany»: finews.com in January reported about plans of the private bank to pull out of Germany in coming months, citing several sources. They claimed that the company had had enough after a decade in Europe's biggest market.

J. Safra Sarasin didn't want to comment at the time. But the rumors haven't died down since and even gathered pace recently.

A Costly Exercise?

The Brazil-based owners, the family Safra, is facing a meltdown in Germany, a banking insider told finews.com. Potential buyers of the business are scared off by the risk to their reputation, the source said. But simply shuttering the unit will cost millions of euros.

And a closure will also lead to job losses, with dozens of bankers affected. Releasing staff comes at a price. J. Safra Sarasin Germany had about 80 employees at the end of 2015.

Losing Patience

The company headquarters in Switzerland again refused to comment, adding that banks generally don't comment on rumors.

Another insider told finews.com that the bank was keeping quiet about the branch's future not just in its relations with the outside, but also internally. Relationship managers as a consequence remain unable to inform their clients about the future, making them lose patience: «Customers react very sensitively to every report,» the source said. Some even tell their relationship managers to quit their employer.

Management Departures

Relationship managers and customers at the German branch are looking for a way out as a consequence. Several managers have already left the bank, according to reports in the German media.

Christian Mosel, head of institutional clients in Germany, Markus A. Diekmann's team of relationship managers in Frankfurt, and COO Jens Wolf all left within the past 12 months. When Wolf departed in May 2016, Germany's «Private Banking Magazin» first speculated about a possible plan to shutter the unit.

As J. Safra Sarasin maintains its silence, the talk remains just that. But the results achieved over the past 10 years of business in Germany are more than just a rumor: The bank has managed a profit in two of its years in the country, 2010 and 2011. In 2015 that bank posted a loss of 8.8 million euros.