Moving to protect itself, in part, from open-ended financial penalties and costs, Mirabaud et Cie is abandoning its unlimited liability structure in a similar initiative to that taken by its several of its fellow banks in Geneva.
Earlier this year, Pictet and Lombard Odier broke with more than 200 years of history by dropping their unlimited liability partnerships. This followed the shock collapse of Wegelin, which admitted helping US clients to avoid taxes. Under Wegelin’s legal structure, its partners were personally financially liable for the bank.
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Growing international regulatory pressure on the Swiss banking industry and the threat of US sanctions against Swiss banking have made it untenable to risk huge personal bankruptcy by maintaining unlimited liability, Zurich bankers say.
Mirabaud has chosen a partnership limited by shares under Swiss law – a "Société en Commandite par Actions" or "SCA". At the same time, it is opening a Luxembourg bank which Mirabaud said will enable it to "pursue the development of the group and respond to the increasing demands of the Swiss and international markets."
The ownership as well as Mirabaud’s management will remain in the hands of the current managing partners. The partners will bear unlimited personal liability for the partnership limited by shares. The latter will be the parent company of all group entities in Switzerland and abroad, including the Swiss bank Mirabaud & Cie that – subject to Swiss regulator FINMA’s approval – will become a limited company.
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Yves Mirabaud, Mirabaud senior partner said, "Our desire to grow in Switzerland and abroad within our three business lines, as well as increasing regulatory constraints and requirements, have incited us to modify our structures and evolve towards a more formal governance and executive management, better aligned with the current environment."
The three business lines, currently functionally organised, will be exercised within distinct legal entities. The entities dedicated to asset management will remain under the authority of Lionel Aeschlimann, managing partner and the intermediation activities will continue to be run by Giles Morland, Managing Partner.
The new bank in Luxembourg, with an opening scheduled for early 2014, will develop the private banking activities of the group in Europe, and will head these activities in the UK, France and Spain.
Mirabaud extends UK business
Mirabaud is also building out a UK private client offering off the back of its London-based asset management business.
Yves Mirabaud told PBI the bank decided to create the offering after it was asked to manage private wealth by some of the CEOs and CFOs it manages money for in its institutional business.
The private client desk build out began about two years ago under the direction of Etienne d’Arenberg. Anthony Bodenstein and Ihab Yassine have been two recent senior hires.
