If you want to lure wealthy entrepreneurial clients away from UBS and Credit Suisse, you must offer something different. Particular expertise is required. An initiative of Florence Schnydrig Moser at Zuercher Kantonalbank aims to do just that.
Executives & Entrepreneurs (E&E) has been a successful formula for UBS and Credit Suisse in Switzerland for several years, where specialists serve managers and entrepreneurs at the confluence of corporate and private banking.
The idea is to help clients with their businesses and increase their wealth.
One Does Not Live by Asset Management Alone
E&E teams are in vogue at other institutions as well. In July, Geneva-based Lombard Odier acquired an entire squad of E&E specialists from Credit Suisse and opened a new office for them in Zug. Any Swiss bank that wants to attract wealthy corporate clients from Credit Suisse and UBS knows it has to offer corporate banking services. Asset management alone isn't enough.
Accordingly, such expertise must be purchased from the big banks. Or, they can be trained themselves. The latter seems to be the approach of the Zuercher Kantonalbank (ZKB), which has become the third-largest bank in Switzerland following the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS and - although it denies it - is regarded as the preferred address for outflowing big bank money.
New Talent Factory
In any case, private banking boss Florence Schnydrig Moser has drawn attention to a new initiative at the interface between corporate banking and her division via her LinkedIn channel.
According to the message on the online service, the two ZKB divisions have launched a joint «talent program» with mentoring across business units. Schnydrig Moser and Corporate Banking CEO Jürg Bühlmann recently celebrated this.
Familiar With the Concept
«Collaboration between our private client and corporate client businesses across all levels. This is a major concern for me and Juerg Buehlmann at Zuercher Kantonalbank,» the manager commented. «Together, we are better, which pleases our customers and is an important pillar of our bank's success.»
Whether an E&E desk at the state-owned bank will emerge from the talent thus cultivated remains to be seen. What is certain is that Schnydrig Moser is very familiar with the concept. She looks back on a long career at Credit Suisse Switzerland, where she rose to the position of product head before moving to the banking subsidiary AECS Swisscard and finally to ZKB.
