Opportunities in a rapidly changing Private Banking environment

Current developments allow for a reliable assessment of the future of the Swiss banking sector particularly for private banks. The number of institutions in the banking sector is expected to continue to contract and foreign banks to exit or consolidate their private banking activities in Switzerland. Pressures arising from various factors including an evolving regulatory environment are expected to lead smaller banks to increasingly return their licenses. Such major changes have and will continue to impact the way Swiss private banks do business and operate themselves. The needs to focus on core geographies, reinforce compliance functions, and reduce costs to maintain profitability are high strategic priorities for Swiss private banks. To cope with such challenges, selected players have entered into M&A to gain scale or have disposed of non-core businesses or client portfolios of lower strategic relevance.

Saving costs and consolidation alone cannot be the winning formula for the future; this requires a successful organic growth strategy via a clearly differentiated cutting-edge service offering and value propositions for clients.

This event provides an overview of the current consolidation trends observed in the Swiss market. The seminar includes industry participants’ views of the issues and implications regarding banking consolidations as well as potential opportunities arising from those.

Programme