Intesa Sanpaolo plans to expand in Switzerland after wrapping up a Genevan deal. The Italian lender is recruiting for an office in Zurich, finews.com has learned.

Turin-based Intesa Sanpaolo is looking to hire in Zurich for a new office it plans to open in the Swiss city, several people familiar with the move told finews.com. The office would be the Italian bank's third in Switzerland, after Geneva and Lugano.

Intesa bought Morval three years ago for north of $150 million, fusing the Genevan private bank's offices in Lugano with its own private bank in Ticino to form Intesa Sanpaolo Private Bank (Suisse) Morval.

A spokesman for Intesa denied that the bank plans to expand to Zurich following the recently-concluded merger with Morval. Intesa is focusing on Italian- and French-speaking Switzerland for now, as well as on other strategic wealth management markets like Brazil or Argentina.

«Never Say Never»

The spokesman said the bank has a «never say never» attitude – and that Zurich may be an option at a later date. finews.com has learned that the bank has been trying to recruit staff for several months, now, via a headhunter.

Intesa wants to vault itself from Switzerland to one of the five most important European private banks, and manage more than 50 billion euros. It is part of Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, Italy's largest private banking group, which manages 230 billion euros.