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Clarus Capital head Giancarlo Guetg doesn't care if his private bankers fly business class or economy. He tells finews.com how his firms escapes the culture of envy and has more time for clients. 

Giancarlo Guetg, Clarus Capital poached a six-person Russia private banking team from UBS last year. Your breakthrough as an independent asset manager?

Yes, it was a quantum leap for us, but it wasn't an isolated move. We laid the groundwork about a year ago with a new growth strategy in order to attract private bankers. Until that point we had also been rebuffed by very interesting client advisors.

Why?

Mostly because we didn't have any capacity for asset management at the time. 

You've changed that.

Right. Roger Ganz joined us as head of asset management, from Notenstein La Roche. We also set up an important base by deciding  for a portfolio management and compliance system by Evolute. This basis was the prerequesite to convince the UBS team to join us.

How did you manage to convince six UBS private bankers plus the person responsible for risk management to join you? 

I was part of this time myself once, and personal contacts played the main role here. 

What has the addition done for Clarus' asset under management? 

Without disclosing numbers: it was a quantum leap. 

«A private bank cannot offer the breadth of our client offering»

The new funds are an enormous help in soon reaching our goal of 1 billion Swiss francs in assets under management. 

Your focus is firmly on eastern Europe and Russian markets. Was that the plan from the start? 

The background of Clarus' founding members was business in eastern Europe. In the meantime, many of our clients no longer live in the region or in Russia, but in Switzerland or other European countries. This has led us to shift our focus further west. 

What can Clarus as a small wealth management offer Russian clients that a private bank cannot? 

Mainly flexibility: we have a broad product offering that most private banks would not be able to offer. We're moving more into the territory of family office services with our offering. 

What does that mean? 

The longer a client relationship lasts, the more traditional banking services fade into the background. The client begins wanting more advice for family inheritance or business succession. The main issues are family and securing the childrens' future.

What distinguishes Russian clients?