Qatar’s Quintet bank closes shop in Switzerland

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The bank is situated at Zurich’s prestigious Bahnhofstrasse. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Quintet Private Bank says it is closing its Swiss arm just 16 months after opening. The Qatari-owned private bank took over Bank am Bellevue last year.

The Luxembourg-based private bank is closing its Swiss business, which employs 87 people, according to a statement on Tuesday. It is unclear whether the closure will happen via a wind-down or sale.

The private bank, which opened in May 2020, was affected by the pandemic and was unable to build its business up as fast as anticipated, the statement said.

“Establishing a path to profitability would take longer than anticipated,” the group’s CEO Jakob Stott said in the statement.

Millions in losses

The 87 staff are currently in a period of consultation. The wealth manager hired copiously from the leading UBS bank, both in Switzerland as well as elsewhere.

Quintet SwitzerlandExternal link manages €1.85 billion (CHF2 billion) in client assets, while the private bank looks after €85 billion in client assets as a whole.

Last month the Zurich-based Swiss bank of Quintet posted a net loss of CHF16.3 million, compared with CHF9 million in the first half of 2020, according to a profit-and-loss statement posted in Switzerland’s commercial register.

About Swissinfo

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