Swiss Bank Sarasin and AIG Private Bank have announced that they will open a new bank dedicated to servicing affluent clients, with assets of up to SFr500,000, in a move to allow the two banks to concentrate on their core business.

Swiss Bank Sarasin and AIG Private Bank have announced that they will open a new bank dedicated to servicing affluent clients, with assets of up to SFr500,000, in a move to allow the two banks to concentrate on their core business. The banks plan to combine their direct business with affluent clients and their business with independent financial providers – but not with the external asset managers – to form a new bank. The new bank will initially have over 235,000 clients in Switzerland, Germany and Austria and will manage assets of approximately SFr8 billion. In its first year of business, the new bank is expected to earn gross income of around SFr100 million. Eastern Europe features highly in plans for growth and the new bank anticipates that 4,000 new accounts will be opened every month. The bank will be open for business by the end of 2008 at the latest, once the relevant approvals have been obtained from the Swiss Federal Banking Commission. Bank Sarasin will own a 57.5 per cent in the new bank, whilst AIG Private Bank will own 42.5 per cent. Sarasin’s Marco Weber has been appointed chief executive of the new bank, and Niklaus Siegrist of AIG Private Bank will be his deputy. The new bank will start off with around 100 employees recruited from the relevant business units in both banks. No redundancies are expected. The name and location of the new bank are still to be decided. “We are very excited about the prospect of working with our partner AIG Private Bank to build up a bank dedicated to providing investment and savings solutions,” says Joachim Straehle, chief executive of Bank Sarasin. “At the same time, this transaction offers clear benefits in the form of additional assets under management growth and greater cost efficiency.” Mr Straehle and Eduardo Leemann, chairman of AIG Private Bank, will both sit on the supervisory board of the new bank.