Troubled Swiss banking group Swissfirst has announced that in future it will concentrate on asset management, brokerage and corporate financ...

Troubled Swiss banking group Swissfirst has announced that in future it will concentrate on asset management, brokerage and corporate financial services trading under the name of the Bellevue Group, a publicly owned company listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange. It is understood that the recently reported sale of Swissfirst’s private banking activities to Adler & Co Privatbank, a subsidiary of the Luzerner Kantonalbank, will be completed by the end of this year. The group said chairman Martin Bisang will take over as chief executive on 1 January 2007, replacing interim chief executive Jurg Schappi. Former Julius Baer Group chief executive, Walter Knabenhans, will become chairman and two more independent directors will be nominated at the next annual meeting. Client assets were SFr11.2 billion in September, up 3 per cent for the year. Growth in client assets came in private banking which saw an increase of 26 per cent, as rising stock prices offset client withdrawals of SFr300 million. Asset management reported a 7 per cent fall to SFr4.6 billion. Swissfirst generated a third-quarter operating profit of SFr33.1 million on revenues of Sfr48.0 million.