A senior Pictet banker tells this news service that Dubai reminds him of New York during the boom of the 1990s, and the cosmopolitan energy and optimism of that decade.

Dubai today radiates the same level of dynamism as a place for a private banker to work and live as New York City did in the dotcom era of the 1990s. And yet, many of the wealth holders in the UAE, such as second- and third-generation family heads, want the kind of long-term mindset from a bank that differs from the high-roller Wall Street of decades ago.

Geneva-headquartered Pictet has been making a long-term commitment to Dubai and the surrounding region, Yves Bruggisser, equity partner and head of the Middle East zone at Pictet Wealth Management, told this news service in a recent call.

Yves Bruggisser

Asked whether the Swiss firm wants to set up a booking centre in Dubai, Bruggisser said: “It is something we’re considering...but we have to be sure this is what our clients need and that we have the right people.”

Pictet has had a representative office in Dubai since 2007. In recent years, the bank has added to its Middle East teams with one to two bankers a year.

 Bruggisser said the bank isn’t interested in the M&A route as a faster approach, he said. In more than two centuries of its existence – founded in 1805 – Pictet hasn’t bought another bank or firm, and there is no plan to change that approach. Today, a total of 50 staff, including investment specialists, cover the Middle East region from Dubai, Geneva, Zurich and London.  

Like a number of other banks, Pictet has been attracted by the rapid rise in Dubai’s prosperity, and its status as a financial hub straddling European and Asian time-zones. The bank has had clients in the region since the 1980s. Dubai’s move over a year ago to create a centre in the DIFC for family offices is another important addition to the wealth toolkit. (See more here.) 

So far, Pictet’s approach to growth is to be steady and focus on employing high-calibre people who can work with clients’ often complex needs, Bruggisser said. “We have 5 per cent growth in the number of people in the Middle East,” he said. “Most of the families here are second or even third generation.” Clients don’t want a high turnover  of the bankers they deal with, he continued. (The bank doesn’t disclose the share of revenues that UAE accounts for in all Pictet’s business. See its 2023 results.)

While he did not directly comment on the matter, Bruggisser knows that clients, reconsidering their banking menus after the UBS takeover of Credit Suisse last year – and problems with other lenders – are in the mood to consider fresh options. A bank such as Pictet, with its history, partnership structure and independence, clearly thinks it is in a good position to push itself forward.

While the UAE has tightened up local controls and removed itself from the FATF “grey list” – a big plus now for the jurisdiction – it is still known as a place where Russians have congregated to avoid sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine. Private banks have had to be careful.

“We do not accept clients who are based in Russia, whose main source of income is from Russia or, of course, who have been sanctioned. Needless to say that we always act in compliance with applicable laws, regulations and sanctions,” Bruggisser said, when asked about the matter.

Credibility
“We have the credibility of being a ninth-generation firm,” he said, saying that the bank’s added-value proposition in areas such as wealth planning, family governance, work on NextGen transfer issues, gives it an edge. 

“They [clients] like private assets; they like discretionary solutions for the ultra-high net worths, they like unique investments and they like access to opportunities in other investments,” Bruggisser continued.

Much of the wealth market in the Gulf is international, with a significant proportion of expats in the region. 

“Dubai reminds me of New York in the 1990s. In a single day, you would meet people from, say, 20 nationalities, and get to work with every nationality,” he said.

This news service continues to track the firms setting up in Dubai and other Gulf jurisdictions. See this interview here, for example, with IQ-EQ about its regional strategy, or that of Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), here.

(Separately, and a few days after International Women's Day, click on the following link about recent research this publication brought out alongside First Abu Dhabi Bank on women's issues in the Middle East and Africa wealth sector.)