Vontobel concludes private bank acquisition

Vontobel has completed the acquisition of Notenstein La Roche Privatbank AG, as announced on May 24, 2018.

The move to acquire Notenstein La Roche is aimed at complementing Vontobel's 'above-average organic growth seen in the area of wealth management and in business with external asset managers (EAM)'.

'Our new clients will in future benefit from the opportunities and expertise of a Swiss asset manager with international operations,' said Georg Schubiger (pictured), head of Vontobel Wealth Management. 'We will take advantage of this in the pursuit of our ambitious organic growth targets across a wider Swiss base.'

According to Vontobel, the additional Notenstein La Roche locations will enable the bank to strengthen its domestic market and underline its position as one of the leading private banks in Switzerland. Notenstein La Roche manages around CHF16.5billion (€14,2bn) through asset management and in business with EAM at 13 locations in Switzerland. Additionally, the private bank primarily takes care of clients from Germany and a host of other international markets.

Vontobel financed the acquisition through existing equity and the raising of capital in the form of an Additional Tier-1 Bond (AT1 Bond), which was successfully placed on June 13, 2018, for a nominal CHF450m and with a coupon of 2.625%.

The merger of Bank Vontobel AG and Notenstein La Roche Privatbank AG and the migration to Vontobel systems should be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2018, according to the bank which expects the acquisition 'to contribute significantly to the profits of Vontobel Wealth Management from as early as 2019'.

Notenstein La Roche Private Bank, Raiffeisen Switzerland and Leonteq signed a ten-year agreement in early 2016 for the issuance of structured investment products. Over this period, Leonteq will act as the core provider of technology and services for the origination and distribution of structured investment products. Leonteq will provide the requested services to Raiffeisen Switzerland and Notenstein La Roche Private Bank against a platform fee, while maintaining its open platform approach.

Raiffeisen went through a reorganisation in 2015 that saw Notenstein's structured products trading and distribution (sellside) integrated in Raiffeisen's Central Bank. As Notenstein Private Bank refocused on core businesses, its IT division and some units of its services division were integrated into Raiffeisen Switzerland and Arizon Sourcing, a joint venture with Avaloq, which was already responsible for operations of Raiffeisen Switzerland.

Notenstein Private Bank entered the Swiss structured products market in March 2013, with Raiffeisen Switzerland Cooperative as guarantor and EFG Financial Products Ltd (now Leonteq) as services provider, following the purchase of an equity stake of 20.25% in EFG Financial Products Holding for CHF70.2m (€56.2m). Notenstein's equity stake in Leonteq as of the start of 2015 was 24.77%. There are over 2,800 structured products with Notenstein as distributor on Switzerland's database of which 675 are live products.

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