UBS has sold a group of high-value properties in the city center of Geneva. The buyer is a major Swiss real estate firm.
The buildings in Geneva were symbols for the presence of UBS in Switzerland’s No. 2 financial market. The bank had bought the property at the Rues-Basses in Geneva in 1935, or rather one of its predecessor firms. What was then known as Union Bank of Switzerland and later UBS had operated its banking business in the French-speaking city with a high degree of independence from the main office in Zurich, not least as Geneva was a major financial market.
Over the past decade, the financial center of Geneva has lost some of its allure and the physical presence of UBS in the city center no longer carries the same degree of importance.
UBS to Keep Offices and a Branch
It has now sold the group of buildings to PSP Swiss Property for 295 million Swiss francs ($319 million), according to a statement by the real estate firm. UBS will rent part of the complex and keep some 100 members of staff in place. It also operates one of its branches in the building.
The main office of UBS in Geneva is in Praille-Acacias-Vernets, where since the mid-1990s it has offices for 900 of the 1,200 employees in the city. Private bank Pictet also has a major office in that region of Geneva. Pictet is currently planning to construct a 24-story office and apartment bloc in Geneva.
Not Corona-Related
The divestment of the Geneva property has nothing to do with the trend to home office that has accelerated in recent corona-months, said a spokesperson of the bank. But more with the fact that the bank doesn’t need as much space in said property complex as it used to.
