Swiss private bank Julius Baer announced on Thursday that it will expand its presence in South Africa. Julius Baer South Africa will be an advisory office based in Johannesburg.

The news comes on the same day that another Swiss bank, Credit Suisse, said that it was closing its Johannesburg office. Clients of Credit Suisse would now be served by their offices in Europe and Dubai, the bank said.

Julius Baer will employ seven at its new office, most of whom have been hired from South Africa’s three main wealth managers: RMB Private Bank, Barclays Africa (Absa) and Nedbank.

On why Julius Baer was opening an office in South Africa at his time, its head of Middle East and Africa, Daniel Savary, cited figures from Capgemini: “On the African continent, South Africa has the largest high net-worth individual population of 92,000.”

Rémy Bersier, Head Emerging Markets and Member of the Executive Board of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd., added: “As part of our focused growth strategy, we have identified South Africa as one of the markets we want to invest in.”

In October, another Swiss bank, Lombard Odier, said that it too was expanding its presence in the country. The bank was awarded a category one licence from the industry regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).

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