Privately owned Swiss bank Pictet relies on tech but favours ‘personal interaction’

As it did for most businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, technology came to the rescue of Pictet Group, which oversees 609 billion Swiss francs’ ($670bn) worth of assets.

Although Switzerland’s biggest privately owned bank harnessed the latest technologies to stay in touch with customers during the health crisis, it prefers to service clients the conventional way with face-toface meetings, Daniel Savary, its head of wealth management in the Middle East and Africa told The National. It is also investing in its headcount in the Middle East,

“We are still in a business where personal interaction remains very crucial,” said Mr Savary, who is also a member of executive board of Pictet Wealth Management. “It [the technology] is not replacing … the physical interaction. The client proximity is very important.”

He said the crisis has shown that digitalisation in the financial services industry is at an advanced stage and institutions can adapt when they need to. Technology has proven to be time-efficient and even when the health crisis is over, the sector will continue to invest in it.

“Now, is it [going to be] used with the same intensity as borders are opening again? I doubt [it],” he said. “As long as there is no other solution, and as long as we cannot travel, there are restrictions and quarantine measures”, technology will remain a vital tool for staying in touch with clients, he added.

Pictet, which has been advising affluent and institutional clients in the Middle East and Africa from Geneva and Zurich with a representative office in Dubai for more than two decades, is looking to hire top talent to serve the region that has registered double-digit growth in business in recent years.

“We want to continue selectively hiring senior people and of course grow our asset base … not only organically through existing clients, but also by converting our prospective pipeline into new relationships,” Mr Savary said.

Clients in the Middle East represent “a substantial part” of its total assets under management he said, declining to give further details.

Pictet’s growth ambitions are focused on the hydrocarbon-rich GCC states and the Levant, a region which has recently experienced a significant rise in the number of ultra-wealthy.

The number of such people in the Middle East, those with a net worth of more than $30 million, is projected to increase 24.6 per cent in the next five years. The region will also retain its position of the world’s fourth-largest wealth hub, according to Knight Frank projections.

The global population of the ultra-wealthy is forecast to rise 27 per cent over the same period to 663,483 from 513,244 in 2019. Asia is likely to register the largest rise in the number of UHNWIs with growth of 39 per cent.

Pictet’s client base has been subject to double-digit growth . The company is open to portfolio acquisitions from other asset managers on a case-by-case basis despite not completing one in the past, which may further boost its Middle Eastern portfolio, Mr Savary said.

On the investment front, Pictet expects rising appetite for riskier assets, driven by the prospects of a faster economic recovery and vaccine programmes in some markets.

Pictet’s growth ambitions focus on the hydrocarbon-rich GCC states and the Levant