The British bank is expanding its efforts to woo Europe's wealthy – with Switzerland as a linchpin.
Barclays wants to expand its European focus on four countries – France, Italy, Spain and in a second phase Germany, regional manager Gerald Mathieu told «Reuters». Mathieu, who took over in Switzerland in 2018, was recently promoted to oversee wider Europe after a major change at the helm of the overall wealth unit.
His plans represent a considerable expansion of Barclays' efforts in Europe, where it currently operates out of Ireland, Switzerland, and Monaco. The alpine nation plays a not inconsiderable role in this push, noted Mathieu. He led the Swiss arm back to profit last year, as finews.com reported in May.
Swiss Appeal
Mathieu said Switzerland is even more appealing to the wealthy in the wake of the pandemic. Equally, the crisis represents crunch time for wealth managers, who are still sitting on relatively expensive operations.
«The industry is facing global margin compression and very aggressive pricing competition,» he told the newswire. «The private banking business across Europe is profitable, but we have to anticipate and adapt our business model to the challenges of these times.»
