“Jürg Zeltner leaves us with a great gift”

With the definitive takeover of Bank am Bellevue, the starting signal is given for a growth spurt from Quintet in Switzerland. In an interview with Switzerland boss Emmanuel Fievet explains how he wants to accomplish 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 customers from fast-growing regions: from the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. We will also build a bridge to the UK because we believe that their relationship with Switzerland will become closer in the next few 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 in 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 accomplish their mission”

We are independent and have a shareholder who 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 accomplish 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 customers and focus on their needs.

Now you have to accomplish 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 really tragic. But he left us with 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.

Now you are starting in Switzerland amid the enormous distortions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. How do you want to win customers in this situation?

Of course, this becomes more difficult with social distancing. But thanks to the technological possibilities, it is far from impossible. For the moment, we have to rely more on calls and tools like teams (a collaboration software from Microsoft) – whatever secure channel works best for the customer. And we know that 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 doesn’t feel comfortable in a smaller, boutique-like organization, they should probably stay where they are.

The focus is on hiring the right professionals »

However, this only shows up over time, it is not always clear from the start whether people can adapt to a new environment.

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

The vast majority. I am very satisfied with the development work that my predecessor did on the foundation of the bank, on the middle and back 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 were just waiting for the purchase of the Bank am Bellevue to come to us. So I’m not just starting calling candidates this morning.

“We have no short-term goal”

At other locations, we have seen that we are a magnet for talented entrepreneurs. I am confident that we will have 20 to 25 additional client advisors in Switzerland by the end of the year.

How will this affect the assets under management here?

We have no short-term goal for this. Our priority is to find the right people to build market coverage.

Quintet has brought about 200 additional employees on board in the past 12 months, but you want to keep the number of employees constant. Where will you mine?

We are always looking for ways to become more efficient.

“Our focus is on organic growth”

We are in the process of being set up in Switzerland, while it is right that other locations are looking for ways to become more efficient and create synergies.

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

No, I can’t say anything about that.

Quintet exists in Switzerland thanks to a takeover. 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 be playing 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 looks at them.

Given the crisis, has this team seen more opportunities for M&A in the past few weeks?

Yes. This crisis shows that it will be very difficult without a plan, the right team, the necessary capital and a long-term horizon. So some will have to find alternatives. Others will look for 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 Quintet-Mastermind dies Jürg Zeltner started his new job six weeks ago. The Belgian Fievet was from 2014 to 2019 CEO of Edmond de Rothschild in Switzerland. Prior to that, he worked in wealth management at Barclays, UBS, Citi, and J. P. Morgan in London and Geneva. He started his career in corporate banking at Dresdner Bank in Frankfurt.