ZURICH (Reuters) – A wave of consolidation could sweep Switzerland’s smaller private banks, prompted by the financial crisis and a weakening of the country’s strict bank secrecy rules, bankers and analysts said.
ZURICH (Reuters) – A wave of consolidation could sweep Switzerland’s smaller private banks, prompted by the financial crisis and a weakening of the country’s strict bank secrecy rules, bankers and analysts said.
Rising cost pressure and falling revenues from collapsing markets will likely help push the most fragile players into the arms of established wealth managers.
“If revenues continue at such low levels, some banks will face problems,” said Philipp Hofstetter, head of corporate finance at the Swiss arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
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“It’s mostly the small banks, those with assets under management below 5 billion Swiss francs, that will suffer.”
According to a 2009 study by the Swiss Banking Association, Switzerland in 2007 had 79 private banks with assets under management between 1 and 10 billion francs, out of a total of 141 wealth managers.
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