Quintet Private Bank (shown here at its headquarters in Hamilius) currently has more than 2,000 employees and manages €85bn in client assets in Europe. (Photo: Maison Moderne)

Quintet Private Bank (shown here at its headquarters in Hamilius) currently has more than 2,000 employees and manages €85bn in client assets in Europe. (Photo: Maison Moderne)

The Luxembourg banking group Quintet Private Bank has entered into talks to reduce the number of staff employed at its Zurich subsidiary, Quintet Switzerland. The pandemic has put a damper on development ambitions in this market, which is no longer considered strategic.

Discussions with the staff of Quintet Switzerland are currently underway and are the prologue--a regulatory hurdle--to a final decision on the fate of the branch, which was opened in May 2020 by Quintet Private Bank following the takeover of Bank Am Bellevue. All options remain open for the time being. The options range from reducing their activity to a sale or outright liquidation. Nothing will be decided until the end of these discussions. The decision is also subject to the approval of the regulatory bodies.

The Swiss venture of Quintet Private Bank was an indirect victim of Covid. Conceived as a start-up, Quintet Switzerland has not succeeded in recruiting the talent it needed to grow. Talent that, faced with the pandemic, did not take the risk of changing shops.

The group thus faced a dilemma: it either had to invest even more in the Swiss venture or would have to devote itself to other existing growth markets.

The second option prevailed: for Quintet Private Bank, the Swiss business has ceased to be strategic. The group insists in a statement that today's announcement "will have no impact on Quintet’s activities, clients or staff elsewhere in Europe and the UK, where the firm will further invest in sustaining and accelerating long-term growth.”

The strategy set out in 2019 is beginning to bear fruit

“Quintet’s core business, which extends across the EU and the UK, has recorded significant growth over the past two years," says Group CEO Jakob Stott. "That includes a marked increase in client assets, fuelled by record client inflows and supported by robust lending activity; the firm’s top line has grown at an annual rate of 8% since its new strategy was announced in the autumn of 2019."

"Our existing core European and UK businesses are even more strongly positioned for the future following the merger of our EU-based subsidiaries and came through the pandemic very well. Consequently, we see clear opportunities to invest further and grow our core franchise," the Group CEO adds.

Quintet Switzerland employs 87 staff members and manages €1.85bn in client assets.

of the group, which was launched at the same time, continues to be regarded as strategic.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.