What is more, attractive business opportunities abound, they say, owing to the country’s concentration of well-educated, high-earning professionals.
Key to this potentially lucrative pool is the number of multinational and financial services firms that choose to headquarter themselves in Switzerland.
“You have the likes of DuPont, who have been in Geneva for over 50 years,” notes Christopher Marriott, who moved to Switzerland with Towry Law (now Towry) in 2001, before setting up Blackden Financial on the shore of Lake Geneva in 2003.
“There are also a lot of trading companies – something like 90% of the world’s oil is traded out of Geneva. So it is across the board.”
Few IFAs were servicing English-speaking professionals in 2000, when Marriott first discussed a Geneva operation with Towry. But competition in the expat financial advice market has since increased.
Recent entrants include AES International, which in March unveiled its office in Zürich’s World Trade Center, as part of the firm’s growth strategy in Europe and the Middle East. Then just three months later, Dubai-headquartered Globaleye announced its expansion into continental Europe, via a flagship operation in Geneva.
Scouting for expats
Both firms are eyeing the client sector Blackden has targeted for the past decade: English-speaking expats, who may be wealthy in absolute terms, but who fall below the personal assets threshold required by the private banks.
“Within Switzerland you have either got over CHF2m, and then you get dealt with by a private bank – or you have less and you are dealt with by [Swiss international banks] who do not manage you,” says Aaron Pacitti, senior VP at Globaleye.
“This is where we come into play. We are able to help the people who do not have CHF2m-5m, but who want a better service than the standard bank account.”
Pacitti previously ran the Geneva operation of Guardian Wealth Management, and brought several ex-Guardian colleagues with him to Globaleye. A total of five people worked at Globaleye’s Geneva office towards the end of June, but Pacitti says that number will likely be ten to 15 by the time the company relocates to bigger premises this month.
Fresh blood
New recruits will be “experienced talent” and more will follow – Pacitti estimates the capacity of the Geneva office at 25 consultants. Globaleye has already received expressions of interest from many UK advisers seeking to relocate, he adds.
Looking further ahead, Globaleye plans to launch another Swiss operation, either in Zürich or Basel, by the end of this year, to be the pre-eminent brokerage in Switzerland within 12 months, and to open several offices throughout … continue on page 2
