Vontobel, the Zurich-based wealth and asset manager, has announced plans to increase US offshore assets by over two-thirds by 2014, bucking the trend of wealth managers turning away American clients due to stricter regulation.

At a media roundtable hosted yesterday by Vontobel, chief executive Zeno Staub told reporters that the bank would seek to grow assets under management held by American clients more aggressively than any other segment.

Vontobel currently has SFr30 billion ($34 billion) of private client assets under management, SFr1 billion of which is US accounts. These are held in a separate Zurich-domiciled vehicle which it set up last year, Vontobel Swiss Wealth Advisors. Staub said he has ambitions to increase private client assets by over two-thirds to SFr50 billion, while he hopes to increase US client assets substantially more.

The moves goes against the grain of many other Swiss wealth managers like UBS, Julius Baer, Sarasin and Wegelin who have had to shut their doors to US clients since the implementation of FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) last year. 

More stringent US tax legislation revolving around FATCA has meant a radically different situation for US clients - and for those global institutions that manage their money. Many wealth managers can no longer meet the increased reporting requirements demanded by the SEC to manage US expats and green card holders. Many have had to turn US clients away. 

But Vontobel sees it as an opportunity. "As an internationally active wealth and asset manager, we believe it is our duty to offer our clients appropriate solutions that take account of these changes. We have therefore developed a viable long-term solution for US citizens living in or outside the US, as well as for non-US citizens residing in the US, that is compliant with regulatory requirements," said Vontobel last October, when it announced its stance."

Vontobel is not alone. Other wealth managers flinging their doors open to American expats, include the European divisions of many US banks such as JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, UK wealth managers Rathbone Brothers, London & Capital and Maseco Financial and US investment manager Raymond James. Royal Bank of Canada recently told this publication in an interview that it was business as usual and it would provide a fully-compliant service for its US expat clients.

The Vontobel Group is a family-owned bank first established in Zurich in 1924. The Vontobel families and the Vontobel Foundation hold the majority of shares and votes in the company.