Reports
Swiss Private Bank Hails "Marked Improvement" To Results

Banque Cramer & Cie has made a big effort to improve its efficiency and profitability over the past year, it said. In 2020, it refocused on its Swiss platform, concentrating on priority markets such as Russia.
Geneva-based Banque
Cramer & Cie yesterday said that its 2020 figures showed a
“marked improvement” after a revamp of operations following a
testing period. Operating profit has more than tripled.
Revenues last year rose by 3 per cent year-on-year, reaching
SFr39.7 million. Assets under management reached SFr2.936 billion
at the end of December, rising by 3 per cent from a year
before.
Taking into account one-off income from a business sale, net
profit increased, reaching SFr5.3 million in 2020, compared with
SFr300 million in 2019.
The firm refocused on its Swiss platform last year, concentrating
its expansion efforts on its priority markets: Eastern Europe and
Russia, as well as Latin America.
After opening a representative office in Moscow in the autumn of
2018, Banque Cramer & Cie appointed André Mankowsky as head of
private banking and a member of its general management in January
this year. A dual Russian/French speaker, Mankowsky has lived in
Moscow and has more than 25 years of experience in the financial
industry, including 15 years as head of private clients' units
for the Eastern European markets and Russia.
To improve performance and manage regulation, the bank cut
operating costs, which fell by 6 per cent overall in 2020.
Like some of its rivals, the firm has also sought to bolster its
position via mergers and acquisitions. For example, at the start
of January 2019, Banque Cramer and its shareholder Norinvest
Holding bought M&C Finance in Lugano, an external asset
management firm founded in 2003.
The executive committee at the bank is made up of Marc-Henri
Balma (chief operating officer); André Mankowsky, head of private
banking, and Stéphane Poulin, chief financial and risk officer.
The post of CEO is empty as at the time of publication. In
2018 the CEO, Cédric Anker, left the firm after a reported
disagreement about strategy with Massimo Esposito, who owns the
bank via Norinvest. Other board members are Michael Ehrenhold
(vice chairman) and Sophie Maillard (board member) ansd Alain
Sierro (board member).
Last October Swiss federal prosecutors opened a criminal
investigation into the bank amid a corruption probe into the
affairs of the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras and
construction firm Odebrecht (source: Reuters, 8
October). The bank declined to comment at the time.
Besides Geneva, the bank has offices in Zurich, Lugano and
Lausanne and an affiliated company in Nassau.