The Swiss banks and the United States: This connection is hard to be charged. No wonder, the USA, the customers, signaling the beginning of the end of Swiss banking secrecy. In 2008, she defied under the threat of a criminal lawsuit against UBS, Switzerland’s first customer name. Until today, Swiss banks have paid a total of approximately 5.4 billion dollars on buses to ensure that they helped U.S. clients in Tax evasion.
The tax dispute is history. The banks will start again, the US market for asset management perceive it as an opportunity. And to invest. First of all UBS, which had, in spite of the difficult past is always a big US presence.
At the investor day, the Bank stated that the United States will be one of the most important engines of growth for the asset management. Overall, the core to their pre-division, to increase your profit per year by 10 to 15 percent in the next three years. “We expect that the US will contribute a larger part of it – almost half,” said Martin Blessing, Co-head of asset management. In the case of the managed assets US customers taxes 1.3 trillion Swiss francs already today, around half of the total business of UBS.
Vontobel wants to expand in the United States. Recently, the private Bank, bought the US business of Lombard Odier, which included $ 1.2 billion of client assets. Before the transaction, clients managed by Vontobel for US 3.7 billion Swiss francs. They wanted to increase new assets in the United States by 10% each year, formulated by Georg Schubiger, head of the asset management business of Vontobel, the objectives for the year 2020.
most millionaires
The discovery of America, has a simple reason for this: “the US is The largest market for asset management,” says Schubiger. “In addition, the asset growth in volume is moderate, nowhere greater than in the United States.” According to the Credit Suisse Wealth Report is expected to grow in the next five years, the number of millionaires in the United States by 18 percent to over 20 million. For comparison: In China the number of millionaires is increasing in percentage with 62 percent more, absolutely, the giant is likely to include rich in 2023, but only 5.6 million millionaires. In Switzerland just under 1 Million millionaires live according to the forecasts, in five years.
in view of these Figures the question arises, why Swiss banks edit, the US market is much stronger. Credit Suisse, for example, has pulled in 2015 from the Private Banking market in the United States, including Julius Baer. The answer is simple: Nobody waits in the US on Swiss asset management banks.
Except for the UBS has managed a foreign institution on the list of the Top 10 asset managers in the United States. In the United States active banks, with the exception of the UBS is usually a niche strategy. “The US banks are strong in investments in their home market. Here, it makes no sense to compete with them,” explains Vontobel Manager Schubiger.
Therefore, offers Vontobel U.S. customers, the diversification, i.e. investing in stocks and bonds outside of the United States. The funds will be booked in Switzerland. This cross-border business is easily possible, provided that a Bank has a of the U.S. securities and exchange Commission regulated of the US unit. “This is not cheap,” says Schubiger, “under $ 1 billion in assets under management worth it.”
the Geneva-based Pictet has posted since 2007, a US unit, wherein the customer deposits in Switzerland. Pictet manages according to its own figures 6.2 billion dollars from U.S. customers and plans to expand the business further. Growth targets announced by the Bank no.
The hurdles are high
According to Marcel Tschanz, Partner in the consulting firm PWC, and a specialist in Private Banking, international companies, or family dynasties to booking platforms outside the United States interested. “In a tax transparent world there is for US customers who are only in the US market, no reason to keep their money outside of the USA book,” he says. In other words: Without a US presence it would be difficult to be able to on the domestic market. The UBS Bay its US business for the most part in the United States.
An additional market entry barrier lies in the structure of the US business. So the so-called Broker-Dealer model is not so dominant. The consultant will be paid according to the number and the volume of customer transactions. Banks chasing the best consultant by firing them to the departure in a volume of commissions as quasi-credit shooting forward. This drives up the cost for the Bank in the amount.
UBS is working hard to win your clients for mandate solutions. The customer of the Bank, leaving the asset management and pay a fee. By 2021, 45% of US funds on the basis of a mandate to manage the UBS and currently stands at 39 percent. “In the United States, the Broker-Dealer will remain the model of the dominant”, says PWC expert, Tschanz. “It will not be for the banks simply to convince both customers as well as good advisors to switch to fix-paid mandate solutions.” (Editorial Tamedia)
Created: 09.12.2018, 18:04 PM
