“Jürg Zeltner leaves us with a great gift”

With the final acquisition of Bank am Bellevue, the starting signal is given for an accelerated growth of Quintet in Switzerland. In an interview with the head of Switzerland, Emmanuel Fievet, he explains how he wants to achieve this in the midst of the Corona crisis. finews.ch.

Emanuel Fievet, what will the Swiss branch of Quintet focus on?

We will focus on Swiss residents, but we also want to serve international clients from fast growing regions: the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. We will also build a bridge to the United Kingdom because we believe that its relationship with Switzerland will be strengthened in the coming years. We want to benefit from this.

What distinguishes Quintet, until recently Bank am Bellevue, from other Swiss private banks?

We don’t want to win a Nobel Prize for innovation. We believe that our size will be a strength, as will our connection between culture and cooperation. We have all the ingredients necessary for success: an experienced team with the motivation to change something.

“Many organizations struggle to fulfill their mission”

We are independent and we have a shareholder that fully supports us and recently invested another 112 million euros in our parent company.

What do you mean by connecting culture and collaboration?

Many organizations struggle to fulfill their mission because the internal complexity is too high or the culture is wrong. Those who work for a large bank have to deal with these problems. Our mission is to deliver to our clients and focus on their needs.

Now you must fulfill this mission in Switzerland without Jürg Zeltner, a legendary Swiss banker who promoted the Quintet project and was able to count on the enormous support of the employees.

Jürgen’s death is truly tragic. But he left us a great gift: a perfectly positioned team.

“A mini UBS is the last thing we want to be”

We are all here because we really believe in this project.

It is now starting in Switzerland amidst the huge distortions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. How do you want to gain clients in this situation?

Of course, this becomes more difficult with social distancing. But thanks to the technological possibilities, it is far from impossible. For now, we have to rely more on calls and tools as teams (collaboration software from Microsoft) – any secure channel that works best for the client. And we know this storm will pass.

Quintet has poached many UBS bankers. Will the bank become a mini UBS?

A mini UBS is the last thing we want to be. If a banker is not comfortable in a smaller, boutique-type organization, he should probably stay where he is.

The goal is to hire the right professionals »

However, this only appears over time, it is not always clear from the beginning if people can adapt to a new environment.

You want to hire 40 other people in Switzerland by the end of the year. How many of them are private bankers?

The vast majority. I am very pleased with the development work my predecessor did at the bank’s founding, downtown, and administrative office. Now the focus is on hiring the right professionals for our key markets.

How easy will it be to get people to change in the crisis?

We already have teams that have been waiting to complete the purchase of Bank am Bellevue before joining us. So I am not starting to call candidates this morning.

“We don’t have a short-term goal”

Elsewhere, we have seen that we are a magnet for talented entrepreneurs. I am sure we will have 20-25 additional client advisers in Switzerland by the end of the year.

How will this affect assets under management here?

We don’t have a short-term goal for this. Our priority is to find the right people to develop market coverage.

Quintet has added an additional 200 employees in the past 12 months, but wants to keep the number of employees constant. Where are you going to mine?

We are always looking for ways to be more efficient.

“Our focus is on organic growth”

We are in the process of establishing ourselves in Switzerland, while it is correct that other places are looking for ways to be more efficient and create synergies.

Can you quantify these measurements? When should the process be completed?

No, I can’t say anything about it.

The quintet exists in Switzerland thanks to an acquisition. Is there more to come?

Our focus is now on organic growth. We believe that market consolidation will continue or even increase. We may well play a role in this, but our plan A is to grow on our own.

“Some will have to find alternatives”

If there are interesting opportunities, we have a team that analyzes them.

Given the crisis, has this team seen more opportunities for mergers and acquisitions in the past few weeks?

If This crisis shows that without a plan, the right equipment, the necessary capital and a long-term horizon it will be very difficult. Then some will have to find alternatives. Others will seek capital because they see growth opportunities.

Emmanuel Fievet was before appointed CEO of Quintet in Switzerland for five weeks. The 50-year-old private banker was head of the bank in Luxembourg before moving on to the Master Mind Quintet dies Jürg Zeltner He started his new job six weeks ago. Belgian Fievet was from 2014 to 2019 Edmond de Rothschild CEO in Switzerland. Before that, he worked in wealth management at Barclays, UBS, Citi, and J. P. Morgan in London and Geneva. He began his career in corporate banking at Dresdner Bank in Frankfurt.