Banque Amas (Switzerland), controlled by the Hinduja brothers, officially the 11th wealthiest family in the UK with an estimated wealth of $...

Banque Amas (Switzerland), controlled by the Hinduja brothers, officially the 11th wealthiest family in the UK with an estimated wealth of $3.8 billion, reported a loss of SFr1.6 million ($1.2 million) last year, according to its recently released annual report. The bank said revenues had fallen by 30 per cent to just SFr17 million in 2004. The bank gave no reason for the sharp fall in revenues. Assets under management were recorded at SFr972 million at the end of 2004. “Last year was clearly a challenging year for us, marked by consolidation and restructuring activity in a market environment that was on the whole difficult,” said Srichand Hinduja, chairman of the bank, in its annual report. He added: “After the acquisition phase of 2002 and 2003, we spent most of 2004 consolidating our Geneva and Zurich operations with the aim of providing a unified approach for our private banking activities. Our focus was on generating organic growth on a sustainable basis.” The parent company of the group, Amas Bank (Switzerland), is headquartered in Geneva. The group also has offices in Lucerne and Zurich, representative offices in London and Paris, as well as four subsidiaries in Switzerland and six subsidiaries abroad. The Hinduja brothers, Srichand and Gopi, also control Indian-based IndusInd Bank, one of India’s new breed of private banks set in 1994. The bank is currently seeking to enter into a joint venture with a “major global asset management company” to develop a wealth management business.