Family Office
Bank of China lays groundwork for Swiss expansion
State-owned bank gets OK to provide banking services in the
Alpine republic. Bank of China (BOC), a Chinese state-owned
commercial bank, says it has received permission from Swiss
regulators to establish private-banking and investment-management
operations in Switzerland.
Heritage
BOC entered the Swiss wealth-management market through Heritage
Fund Management, a Geneva-based fund manager in which it acquired
a 30% stake in July 2008. With the OK from national authorities
to operate as an investment firm and bank in Switzerland its own
right, it intends to up its stake in HFM to 70% and do business
under the BOC brand.
HFM's co-founder Jacques Mechelany will be CEO of the
private-banking side of the business; Julian Fulop, formerly CEO
of Vevey, Switzerland-based Coninco Advisory and Coninco Wealth
Management, will take the lead on the fund component.
In September 2008, BOC took a 20% stake in the French part of
Geneva-based LCF Rothschild Group. It billed the move as "the
first strategic investment by a leading Chinese Bank in a euro
zone bank."
The Chinese government owns about 70% of Beijing-based BOC --
which shouldn't be confused with China's central bank the
People's Bank of China.
Zurich-based UBS has a tiny stake in BOC. -FWR
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