The Luxembourg wealth manager's rebranding and copious hiring pushed it deeper into the red last year.
Quintet swung to a net loss of 43.7 million euros ($47 million) last year, from a break-even in 2018, according to accounts published on Friday. The Qatari-owned bank – previously known as KBL – in 2018 tapped reserves to cover a 22-million-euro loss.
The ruling al-Thani family of Qatar bought KBL from troubled Belgian bank KBC in 2011 for 1.05 billion euros. The bank is attempting a revival of its fortunes by rebranding, fixing unprofitable boutiques, digitizing, and hiring dozens of private bankers (many from UBS).
Qatari Cash
The death of CEO Juerg Zeltner to a terminal illness eight weeks ago are a major setback to those efforts. Quintet wrapped a deal last week which gives it entry into the Swiss banking market as well as 1.6 billion Swiss francs ($1.7 billion) in assets, and opened an office in the Nordics.
The bank is pushing forward under Jakob Stott, a long-time associate of Zeltner's who took over as CEO after his death. Quintet recently took in 112 million euros ($121 million) from the al-Thanis in order to finance the expansion.
