Over the final quarter of 2014, Banque Havilland S.A. furthered its intention to become a major player in high net worth banking when it acquired two subsidiary branches of the prestigious Geneva, Switzerland-based Banque Pasche.
Founded in Luxembourg as recently as 2009, Banque Havilland specializes in an array of banking tasks for “ultra-high net worth individuals”, including everything from basic credit accounts to investment and portfolio management to foreign exchange services to art advisory services.
Even as Havilland prides itself on its intimacy — the institution is private, and family owned and operated — and adherence to tradition, privacy and conservative investing, the bank has experienced aggressive growth over the past few years. In 2011, Havilland took over Dexia Private Bank’s operations in the Mediterranean nation; a year later, it launched a Havilland branch there. In 2013, it opened a London office, and later that year made its first acquisition of Banque Pasche in Monaco.
Late this past year, Havilland announced the acquisition of two more Banque Pasche subsidiary locations: Liechtenstein in September and the Bahamas in November. Following the acquisitions, Banque Pasche remains with two core locations, the historical location in Geneva and another in Zurich, Switzerland.
Jean-Francois Willems, the director-general of Havilland, said that the new acquisitions fold into the bank’s internationalization policy, and noted that more locations strengthen Havilland’s ability to respond to growth markets. And if his previous comments on expansion are to be believed, Havilland has no plans to pause their growth now.
In addition to rumors that Havilland will eventually absorb the entirety of Banque Pasche, including its two Swiss locations as well as its remaining accounts, the bank also wants to continue expanding into emerging markets, including the Middle East and Latin America.