JP Morgan aims for Swiss market share
JP MORGAN (Suisse) aims to expand its wealth management staff by 15-20 percent a year in the next three to five years, a vote of confidence for Swiss private banking in the face of numerous challenges to the industry.
Managing director Andrea Tardy said his bank could take market share despite stiff competition and attacks on the tax evasion and secrecy that helped Swiss banking grow into a $2 trillion industry. “The flight to quality really gives us an advantage even in this market that some might think saturated. I still see potential,” Tardy said.
The Swiss wealth management arm of the Wall Street bank managed $45bn in assets at year-end, including funds held by Swiss nationals, international Swiss-based clients and family offices managed in the Alpine country.
Tardy said his bank had met its targets for the first half of the year, but declined to reveal figures. “I am very bullish on Switzerland,” he said.
The American parent group managed $773bn in client assets at the end of June, a spokeswoman said.
Ultra high net worth clients opening accounts at the Swiss private bank must have at least $25m in investable assets, said Tardy, an Italian who joined the bank in 1997.