A key member of Baumann & Cie Banquiers is stepping down as a partner with full liability. He will remain influential at the Basel-based private bank, both as an owner and adviser.
The latest edition of Baumann & Cie Banquiers’ client letter is a note of farewell: Matthias Preiswerk, the veteran partner at the small bank, from January 2021 no longer will be one of the fully liable partners. He will remain a limited partner.
Preiswerk, who has had his fair share of health worries in recent times, is taking a further step back from his involvement, having passed on operative responsibility to his long-time colleague Daniel Rueedi at the end of 2019 – after a full 19 years at the top.
Like a Marriage
Being a fully liable partner at a bank is like marrying for a second time, Preiswerk once told finews.com in an interview. His decision to take a step back isn’t akin to divorce though, as he remains closely associated with the bank. His stake in Baumann & Cie will be moved into a firm named AVAG, which is a limited partner in the bank, liable to the extent of its capital.
Preiswerk took his decision after deliberation with his colleagues. If he had taken out his private retirement funds he would have remained liable for the bank with his personal retirement, despite no longer being in operational charge.
Smaller Group of Liable Owners
The step however means that the group of liable partners is shrinking again, after the bank’s valiant efforts to boost the number of partners in recent years. The bank had welcomed Daniel Burkhardt and Mathias Brenneis as new partners into the fold last year. They joined Preiswerk and Rueedi, who had been sole partners with full liability since 2017.
With the risks in banking trending upwards, the model private bank with fully liable partners is gradually going out of fashion. Only Bordier, Rahn + Bodmer, E. Gutzwiller, Reichmuth and Baumen & Cie remain such a pure-type private bank. Larger rivals including Pictet, Lombard Odier and Mirabaud have given up on this form of company years ago.
