The coronavirus-induced crisis drove home the need for Swiss private banks to change: several more independent private banks gave up or partnered with far larger, more financially potent universal banks.
The most surprising to do so was François Reyl (pictured below), who sold the bank founded in 1973 by his father Dominique to Intesa Sanpaolo. Reyl will continue to exist and aims to grow with the weighty Italian giant's backing, but the genuine independence is gone – Reyl is not Swiss- but Italian-owned.
Landolt & Cie. was snapped up by Franco-German Oddo BHF in what was initially touted as a merger but later emerged as a takeover, which will enable the foreign bank to expand in Switzerland. The move also means the end of independence for the Lausanne-based bank, run by Thierry Lombard and Pierre Landolt.
Pâris Betrand, founded in the midst of the 2008/09 financial crisis, also gave up, just four years after expanding to Luxembourg. The private bank managed roughly 6.5 billion Swiss francs ($7.4 billion) on behalf of wealthy families, entrepreneurs, and institutional clients.
The assets weren't enough: the Genevan institute slid into the hands of Zurich's Rothschild, where Pierre Pâris and Olivier Bertrand, will become executive vice chairmen.
4. Fintech Grows Up
This year marked the end of Avaloq's independence: the firm, which likes to refer to itself as the oldest fintech in Switzerland, overseen by co-founder Francisco Fernandez (pictured below) sold to Japan's NEC in a deal which brought his daughter to tears, as he recounted last week to finews.com.
At Seba, one of Switzerland's two cryptocurrency banks, chairman Andreas Amschwand left suddenly in July amid strategic differences. The Zug-based bank suffered several other exits and tapped 20 million francs in fresh capital earlier this month – enough to begin expanding abroad and kickstart lending and other balance sheet-intensive activities.
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