Pictet recently opened new headquarters in Geneva's La Praille district. Laurent Guiraud

Pictet named continent’s ‘best private bank’

by Giles Broom

November 2, 2009 | 13:00

Geneva-based bank Pictet is “best private bank for Europe and Switzerland", while its managing partner, Rémy Best, is honoured as “private banking personality of the year” at the 2009 Global Private Banking Awards. Other Swiss banks are awarded by judges at the ceremony, although the country’s largest financial institutions are left out in the cold – there is nothing for Credit Suisse, while UBS abstains from participating.

A long-established Swiss financial institution emerged as the best private bank on the continent at an international awards ceremony in Geneva.

Pictet, founded in Geneva in 1805, was named “best private bank for Europe and Switzerland” at the inaugural Global Private Banking Awards event, held at the Hotel President Wilson last week.

One hundred people attended the ceremony organised by two Financial Times publications, The Banker and Professional Wealth Management.

The judges praised Pictet for adapting particularly well to increased scrutiny that banking is receiving in the wake of last year’s financial crisis, while other institutions were “burying their heads in the sand”.

Pictet said in a press release that its financial solidity and “the success of its business model, which is geared to the long term” were factors contributing to its success in difficult times. The bank also cited its “ability to withstand market turmoil and financial crises” and its “values.”

Pictet claims it has a distinctive model of “direct involvement of the partners and members of the senior management in the different stages of the relationship with our clients.”

The bank said this helps explain why its managing director Rémy Best was honoured at the awards ceremony as “private banking personality of the year.”

Pictet is one of Switzerland's largest private banks with assets under management and custody totalling 370 billion francs. The bank maintains it has benefited from client defections from its larger Swiss rivals.

The Global Private Banking Awards are based on data gathered from 350 private banks, wealth managers and family offices operating worldwide.

Banks submit figures on clients’ assets and net profits and make submissions about portfolio management, innovation and fee structures.

Other criteria include institutions’ due diligence systems and how banks reacted to the Madoff fraud. The panel of judges included banking consultants, a Geneva-based lawyer and a financial recruitment specialist.

Managers were “judged on their ability to adapt their business model to the new world order”. The FT Group noted that bank managers are facing “enormous” challenges.

“They have seen their profits plummet in the wake of huge market losses, investment scandals and a decline in world wealth, as well as increased allocation to lower margin asset classes.”

The awards ceremony was organised in the belief that the process of assessment prior to the awards ceremony would help foster transparency and accountability in the banking community.

Basel-based Sarasin picked up praise for socially responsible and sustainable investing. It won both the portfolio management and innovation awards.

“In a competitive marketplace, innovation and excellence in asset management are important success factors,” Burkhard P. Varnholt, chief investment officer of Bank Sarasin, said in a statement.

“As such, the awards are a strong endorsement of the way we manage the assets entrusted to us by our valued clients, not only with regard to performance but also in the context of sustainability, which they consider a key investment approach.”

Sarasin said it has been including environmental criteria in asset management mandates since 1989. Since December 2008, all private banking mandates are managed according to environmental, social and governance research, unless a client opts out.

The bank has been piling into equities from April 2009, at a time when a number of its peers were lowering their clients’ equity allocations.

Credit Suisse did not win any awards, although it and fellow Swiss bank Julius Baer were “highly commended” in the best global bank category. Walter Bertchtold, CEO Private Banking at Credit Suisse, was runner-up to Pictet’s Rémy Best in the individuals’ category.

Julius Baer won best growth strategy and says it is still recruiting customer relationship managers to focus on emerging markets. The panel praised its decision to split its investment and private banking divisions, which are now listed as separate entities on the Zurich stock exchange.

Judges named HSBC Private Bank as the top global institution and recognised its smooth merger with 150-year-old Swiss bank Guyerzeller bank.

On October 5, Sarasin was named "outstanding private bank, Europe" at a separate awards ceremony in Singapore run by Private Banker International.

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