The Genevan wealth manager is partnering with Intesa Sanpaolo to form a Swiss private bank, as finews.com reported exclusively.

Intesa Sanpaolo's private bank and Reyl & Cie will partner, the two said in an emailed statement on Monday. The Italian lender will buy 69 percent of the family-controlled Swiss private bank, and mesh it with Morval, another Swiss bank it acquired last year and which forms the basis of its operations in Switzerland. Neither disclosed financial terms of the transaction.

The two said they agree on a long-term strategic plan for the business and Intesa will move its international private banking activities to Switzerland as a result of the deal, reported exclusively by finews.com on Friday. It combines Reyl's 13 billion Swiss francs ($14 billion) in overall assets with Intesa's more modest 5.1 billion francs under management on behalf of wealthy clients.

Partners Remain

Reyl's partners – François Reyl, Pasha Bakhtiar, Nicolas Duchêne, Thomas Fontaine, Christian Fringhian, and Lorenzo Rocco di Torrepadula – will keep «significant» stakes in the Swiss-based bank.  The six men have also committed both to the merged company's long-term development and strategy as well as its day-to-day management. 

Reyl said its most recent initiatives – impact investor Asteria and Alpian, a digital bank for affluent clients, will flow into the partnership and benefit from the merger. The Swiss bank will continue with its strategy of wealth management, entrepreneur and family office services, corporate advisory and structuring, asset services, and asset management.

Swiss Pole Vault

Reyl was founded Chairman Dominique Reyl in 1973 and is now run by his son, François, a former investment banker. «Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking is the ideal partner for Reyl and we cannot be more pleased to have the opportunity to build together a leading new international private banking player, operating from Switzerland yet with global ambitions,» CEO Reyl said.

The move makes sense for Intesa, which has tried to break into Swiss wealth management. Intesa wants to vault itself from Switzerland to one of the five most important European private banks, and manage more than 50 billion euros ($59 billion). The Italian lender was advised by Studio Pedersoli, PwC, and CFM while Reyl was counseled by Deloitte SA and Schellenberg Wittmer Ltd.