MASECO Financial, the UK wealth manager,
is aiming for a 6 October launch for a new business that aims to
help Swiss private banks hold on to US clients.
Swiss banks are increasingly turning their
backs on US nationals after UBS was forced to turn over 4,450 names
to US regulators as part of a tax evasion probe in August. There
are also proposals for stricter regulation on businesses that deal
in US securities through the strengthening of the Qualified
Intermediary regulation, which includes demanding new reporting
rules. Wegelin, one of Switzerland’s oldest private banks, recently
advised all of its clients, not just US citizens or expatriates, to
exit US securities in light of “legal uncertainties”.
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In a conference call with Private Banker
International, co-partners James Sellon, Josh Matthews and head of
the new Swiss business Yan Rousett, said the closing of accounts
had been “a knee jerk reaction”.
MASECO’s new business, based in Geneva, is
operating predominantly as a third-party asset manager on existing
banks’ platforms, looking after the US-regulated part of the
portfolio. Swiss private banks would maintain their relationship
with the client, and the remainder of the client’s assets.
It will be able to do this because it is
currently regulated by the SEC, FSA and, after receiving
permission, L’ARIF (Association Romande des Intermediaires
Financiers), Switzerland’s domestic financial regulator.
The new business is targeting private banks
with assets of between $5 billion to $10 billion. Institutions of
this size would find complying with the regulations too onerous to
fund themselves, they said.
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By GlobalDataRousett expects the business to attract $600
million to $1 billion at the end of its first year, which the
partners said could represent just a handful of relationships.
MASECO has teamed up with a custodian and
broker dealer which both have QI status, Rousset said, although at
this stage he did not want to name the parties.
