Clients from Asia will be among those international clients able to use the newly-launched booking centre in London in 2017, the Geneva-headquartered private bank has confirmed.

Pictet Wealth Management, which recently announced that its London branch is offering booking centre services amid a widening of its geographic reach, is to let clients based in Asia use this facility in 2017.

This publication can confirm, following a media report, that the Geneva-headquartered firm will permit clients from the Asia region to use the London booking platform.

The booking centre aims to cater to substantial demand from international clients wishing to take advantage of the perceived transparency and legal stability of London, the bank has said.

At the time of its original announcement of the London booking centre earlier in October (see here), the private bank had said: "This expansion of Pictet Wealth Management (PWM)’s services accompanies an increase of over a third in the number of London-based bankers this year, bringing the current total to 33. To accommodate business growth, last month PWM moved to bigger premises close to its former Mayfair offices."

PWM UK, operating under the name of Pictet & Cie (Europe) SA, London Branch, is legally the UK registered branch of the Pictet Group’s Luxembourg-based bank in the European Union. It is regulated by Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), with additional oversight by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). With the extension of Custodial Services, the London Branch is now also placed under the United Kingdom’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)’s limited oversight.