The pandemic has put a hush over the city's banking district. The buzz may not return as wealth managers move bankers out of the city center.

The streets around Place de la Corraterie, Geneva's counterpoint to Paradeplatz, are normally buzzing, but most bankers have abandoned the city to work from home. This has taken a toll on the ecosystem of upscale restaurants, boutiques, and art galleries that the rich clientele of private banks also nourished – and which has run dry without the foot traffic.

The buzz may not return, according to mathemetician and blogger Xavier Comtesse: Geneva's banking district may have emptied out for good, he wrote in Swiss daily «L’Agéfi» (behind paywall, in German). Not the pandemic but bankers themselves are to blame Comtesse argued.

Bankers On The Move

Specifically, two of the city's oldest houses – Pictet and Lombard Odier – are leading the industry trend: abandoning Geneva itself for peripheral areas. Lombard is building a 27,400-square meter headquarter in Bellevue, designed by star architects Herzog & de Meuron. Set for completion next year, the site will house 2,600 employees.

Crosstown rival Pictet plans to move 3,000 bankers to new offices in Carouge – right next to its current headquarters. Groundbreaking is set for next September, with the move slated for 2025. Both new facilities offer better mobility with regional train stations and autobahn connections.

Sell Family Silver?

These and similar moves leave Geneva's inner-city bereft of thousands of bankers. Pictet and Lombard Odier illustrate that noble city palace-style offices no longer fit with newer working models, unlike more modern and connected infrastructure outside the city center.

The exit may force smaller banks to sell the family silver – prime Geneva real estate – in order to shore up their business (Edmond de Rothschild did so three years ago).

The trend fits with the slow exodus of firms out of Zurich: big Swiss banks and insurers have left the Paradeplatz area to house their employees in cheaper real estate on the city's outskirts. New areas like Europaallee, where both UBS and Credit Suisse maintain extensive offices, represent a rare example of keeping jobs in the city.