Laurent Gagnebin: «Pâris Bertrand Is About Growth, not Cuts»

Rothschild Bank & Co. plans to open another onshore office in Europe this year, as it wraps the acquisition of rival Pâris Bertrand, CEO Laurent Gagnebin tells finews.com.

Laurent Gagnebin, how would you characterize 2020 from a personal point of view, in three words?

Much richer in valuable experiences, unbelievable team spirit, a lot of flexibility from everyone.

How did you keep your staff motivated last year?

We massively reinforced internal communication and maintained countless informal channels for interaction: apéros where teams rotated organizing, or sports challenges where you could measure yourself against management. Feedback and participation from our staff was really favorable, but I'm looking forward to seeing people in person again – it's a different quality of interaction.

Rothschild & Co took in 1.3 billion Swiss francs in net new money last year. 

One important reason is that as a family-run and well-capitalized bank we can convey security and safety – something that clients were really looking for last year.

«Existing clients gave us more of their money»

There's also been a growing awareness in recent years that we have a consistently above-average investment performance. We saw any existing clients give us a bigger share of their assets to management as a result.

How was business in Switzerland during 2020?

We don't disclose details of our domestic business. The Swiss market has been important for us for many years though, and we saw growth of more than 30 percent in the last five. We've seriously expanded the number of advisers for Swiss-based clients, though each of our private bankers has less than 30 clients, on average.

We still managed to lower our cost-income ratio by more than ten percent, partly because our clients are entrusting us more of their money.

What does the acquisition of Pâris Bertrand do for Rothschild?

With the Pâris Bertrand group, our assets under management will climb to more than 27 billion francs. Our offering in private markets will be stronger, and in general it means we can keep expanding our investment capabilities. Beyond that, clients can benefit from the network of both banks. It also gives us a presence in Luxembourg as well as additional growth impetus, with now two equally strong branches in Geneva and Zurich.

Will the acquisition lead to job cuts?

Because Pâris Bertrand is very lean in its organization and outsourced various back-office functions and its information technology, there is practically no staff overlap. This acquisition is primarily about growth for us. We can still save some money, such as in that all staff will move into our existing offices in Geneva.

What are your priorities for 2021 and how do you want to expand?

We want to grow sustainably. Rothschild & Co. – the group – has a clear strategy for wealth management, focusing on select European markets. We're in Switzerland, Italy, Britain, Germany, and Belgium and growing everywhere. 

«We want to completely integrate Pâris Bertrand by year-end»

In Germany, we have in Henrik Herr a new business head to extend our strong growth in recent years. We're planning an onshore presence in Spain which should open this year.  

Are you still hiring?

We'll probably add a few people this year, not least because of growth plans I mentioned in Germany and Spain. The integration of Pâris Bertrand, which we want to have done by year-end, is a major project.

How was business in the first three months of 2021?

We're satisfied with the new money in the first two and markets have also been supportive. Continued negative interest rates and uncertainty around Covid-19 will of course affect us. We don't set financial targets.

Laurent Gagnebin joined Rothschild Wealth Management Equitas, the Genevan arm of Zurich-based Rothschild, in 2011. Prior to that, the 44-year-old ran Investec Bank in Geneva. He got his start in finance at Goldman Sachs in Switzerland, after working in the luxury hospitality industry for several years following his education at the École hôtelière de Lausanne. He took over as head of Rothschild Bank in Switzerland in 2016.