SWISS private bank Julius Baer International, which has £300 billion of assets under its management, will open an office in Belfast at the start of next year, it has confirmed.
The Zurich-based firm made a number of key appointments last year in Northern Ireland, where it is actively targeting business owners, entrepreneurs and other sophisticated private clients with a wealth of at least £1 million (a higher threshold for other financial services advisers).
And yesterday Julius Baer's regional managing director Jonathan Dobbin confirmed the office move.
"We're just a few weeks away from signing off on the legals, but we expect to have a bricks and mortar presence in Belfast city centre early in 2019," he said.
"Julius Baer is a global player operating in a local market. Northern Ireland is a great place to live and in which to do business, and since we entered the market at the end of 2017, we've surpassed all expectations.
"Opening an office underlines that we're not just here to dip our toe briefly into the market. It's a permanent move, and we're positioning ourselves for growth. It's a massive vote of confidence in Northern Ireland."
Julius Baer's origins date back to 1890 (it has been in London for 50 years and Dublin for 20), starting life as a family business.
"Given that in Northern Ireland 72 of the top 100 firms are controlled by families, there's a real synergy here for us," Mr Dobbin added.
The office plans were revealed during a breakfast seminar in Belfast attended by senior executives from Julius Baer International including Calum Brewster (head of UK Regions), alongside the Ambassador of Switzerland Alexandre Fasel, who speaks on behalf of the 35,000 Swiss citizens living in the UK.
He said the Swiss living in Britain and Northern Ireland each promote cultural and commercial exchanges and contribute towards the enduring friendship between the two countries.
And as negotiations for the UK's departure from the European Union reach a critical point, he insisted strengthening UK-Swiss bonds "is of paramount importance" and said he would work hard to ensure clarity and continuity in the post-Brexit UK-Swiss relationship.
To ensure that the existing mutual rights and obligations between Switzerland and the UK will continue after Brexit, he said Switzerland has adopted a “Mind the Gap” strategy to make sure there is continuity in the discussions.
He also suggested that even when the UK does leave the EU, it will be "in a permanent state of negotiations forever", adding: "There will always be bilateral agreements to be agreed and renewed at different times, for all time. The current debate will be the new norm."
