Misguided investments, key people who leave and a steady decline in profit – Geneva’s Banque Syz has had a number of tough years and has turned into a potential takeover target. The owners have taken a hands-on approach recently – a sign of an impending sale?
Until a few years ago, Banque Syz was a success story as an innovative and profitable bank. Then, a few things changed: five years ago, co-founders Alfredo Piacentini and Paolo Luban left main shareholder Eric Syz and joined another company – a move that surprised observers.
A year later, Syz assumed the Swiss business of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). The transaction failed to deliver the profit the Swiss had expected it would as clients left or because some of the assets no longer were acceptable due to the implied risk for the bank’s reputation.
Also, a reorganization meant that Banque Syz shuttered the business in Italy and Spain. The choice of Avaloq’s IT platform proved mistaken because it didn’t work properly and because clients received the wrong account statements – the cancellation of the contract led to a write-off of a double-digit million-franc amount. «Very annoying,» was the comment of Eric Syz.
Key People Who Left the Bank
Significantly, a string of key managers left the company in the past few years. Katja Coudray, head of asset management, Fabrizio Quirighetti, head of investments, Stéphane Poulain, CFO, Romain Faraut, a hedge fund expert, Yasmina Barin, head of advisory, and a number of others.
Hence, it came as no surprise that Geneva-based insiders reported that the Syz file came up for discussion among local bankers – in other words, that people speculated about a takeover of the bank. It isn’t the only bank to be the focus of rumors of course, others mentioned as potential takeover candidates are Heritage, Falcon, Maerki Baumann and even Rahn+Bodmer.
Suzanne Syz Joins the Board
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