Quintet Private Bank is closing its Swiss arm just 16 months after opening. The Qatari-owned private bank took over Bank am Bellevue last year.
The Luxembourg-based private bank is closing its Swiss business, which employs 87 staff members, according to a statement Tuesday. It is unclear whether the closure will happen via a wind-down or sale.
The private bank, which opened in May 2020 was impacted by the pandemic and was not able to build its business up as fast as anticipated, the statement says. «Establishing a path to profitability would take longer than anticipated,» the Group CEO Jakob Stott says in the statement.
Millions in Losses
The 87 staff members are currently in a period of consultation. The wealth manager hired copiously from UBS, both in Switzerland as well as elsewhere. Quintet Switzerland manages 1.85 billion euros ($2,1 billion) in client assets, while the private bank looks after 85 billion euros in client assets as a whole.
Last month the Zurich-based Swiss bank of Quintet posted a net loss of 16.3 million Swiss francs ($17.8 million), from 9 million francs in the first half of 2020, according to a profit-and-loss statement posted in Switzerland’s commercial register.
