A Q&A with the man responsible for promoting the joys of Geneva

Following claims that Switzerland is overrated, we thought we'd give it a chance to defend itself. Here, therefore, is a conversation we had with Daniel Loeffler, director at the Economic Development Office of Geneva. Daniel has no qualms about living in Switzerland.

1) Are you actively seeking to encourage people to move from the City of London to Geneva?

We are not making any specific actions to encourage people. We rather inform those who are interested in moving and who contact us for this about Geneva's business environment.

2) For people working in financial services, what are the advantages that Geneva can offer over London?

Being much smaller than London, Geneva is, in many ways, comparable to London and other important business hubs, but it has additional assets.

From the standpoint of the financial sector, Geneva has three major qualities: it's the world leader in asset management, in trade finance activities and also a leading place specializing in various services for the financial community. Also in Geneva you can find a lot of educated financial specialists and good financial education institutions to train employees.

3) What do most of the financial services professionals working in Geneva do?

Geneva is the world leader in asset management. An increasing number of foreign banks are concentrating their international asset management teams here. There are around 60 foreign-controlled banks in Geneva today, according to the Geneva financial Center. There are also hundreds of independent asset managers, and asset management departments of large foreign fiduciaries and brokers.

Geneva is also the world leader in commodity trade finance. It hosts around 400 trading companies with over US$ 700 bn in turnover, 1/3 of the exported oil is handled through Geneva traders, 75 % of Russian oil exports. Geneva one of the top global centres for sugar trading (equal first with London) and grain and vegetable oil transactions. It ranks top in European for cotton transactions and operates 60% of the Russian and Ukrainian grain exports. 22 % of dry products (iron ore, coal, grains.) shipping movements, and 10% of world steel exports are initiated by Swiss traders.

Because of this, Geneva has deep expertise in trade finance and holds a leading position in this field, with all top specialized banks having their trade finance operations based here (BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Credit Agricole, etc.)

Over the past few years, hedge fund activities have also developed steadily in Geneva, based on the existing assets for the financial industry

3) And what advantages can Geneva offer over Dubai or Hong Kong?

The quality of life here is exceptional. Schools, medical care, culture, and leisure are all top-level compared to Dubai and Hong-Kong, which are good for business but less favorable from the quality of life perspective.

4) Can you quantify the number of financial services business or employees that have moved from London to Geneva so far in 2010? If so, how does this compare to 2009?

We have no specific data.

5) People say that Geneva's boring and London bankers won't want to make the move. Do you agree?

I do not think that Geneva is boring at all. People who say that have not lived here.

London is a big city, with a lot going on and a great cultural offering. Geneva is part of a region - the Lake Geneva Region and Switzerland. This is in size pretty comparable to London and actually offers a comparable cultural offering, plus a great choice of leisure and sports between the lake, the amazing Alps and the neighboring regions of Italy and France!

For instance, when you live in Geneva, you can benefit from all activities here. These include great parks, a multitude of clubs, art galleries for all tastes, great shopping, museums, theatres (with many shows in English). You can also go to neighboring cities or great events next door - such as the Paleo Festival (rock & pop music), the Montreux Jazz Festival and much more.

The expat community here is now highly developed. Today it is very easy to integrate in Geneva, find new friends, common leisure activities and much more through structures such as the very successful "Glocals" initiative covering Geneva and other cities in Switzerland (see www.glocals.ch).

6) What do you personally most enjoy about living in Geneva?

Being in Geneva is an incredible experience as for me it mixes the best of a cosmopolitan location and the best of the Swiss countryside and lifestyle. I can have, for example, a great work day, without the hassle of big urban centers. On Friday night, I can have a dinner or wine tasting event with a bunch of international and Swiss friends, on Saturday morning I can go skiing on the next mountain, and on Sunday I can hike in then neighboring vineyards, sail on the lake, or go to the opera. Personally, I do not know any other city of the same size providing such an international atmosphere, where people from all over the world feel welcomed and at home.