Geneva is also a mecca for UK private bankers
It's not just commodities traders and hedge fund managers being lured to Geneva - increasing numbers private bankers are taking roles serving UK clients from the Swiss city.
The trend was highlighted by Barclays in its investor day presentation yesterday, when it said that one of the key focuses for its wealth division was to focus on UK international high net worth markets via its offshore centre in Geneva.
This is by no means exclusive - Barclays Wealth has added 11 UK wealth advisors since November last year, for instance - but the number of private banks serving UK clients in Geneva is growing. RBS Coutts, UBS, HSBC and Credit Suisse all have similar offshore centres.
"We're working on a number of assignments looking for a head of desk, serving UK clients in Switzerland," says Dudley Edmonds, director of wealth management executive search firm Culliford Edmonds. "More UK clients have an appetite to book in less regulated areas like Geneva, and more UK-based private bankers are open to relocation."
There are number of benefits to it - not least the ability to offer relatively seamless onshore and offshore banking facilities to UK clients - says Karl von Bezling, director at wealth management think-tank Scorpio Partnership.
"The main issues private bankers serving UK clients in offshore centres face is a need to have a deep knowledge of multi-jurisdiction affairs - something not common among UK-based wealth managers," he says. "Any one client could have interests across the US, Asia and Europe."
He adds that access to the required professional advisors - lawyers, accountants and trust firms - is also a prerequisite to help private bankers navigate these complex issues.
Geneva is also home to an increasing number of private bankers serving the Middle East. Generally, when banks recruit for these roles, they tend to target wealth managers from the region.
Christian Sulger Buel, director of wealth management headhunters Sulger Buel & Company, says that it's a "logical choice" to look to well-connected UK private bankers for these roles, but that there's also "a high level of competency" in the Swiss market.
