St Gallen-based Wegelin & Co has launched a new advisory division for family offices which is to be run by Pascal Cettier, an employee of the Swiss private bank since 2001.

The new division, named Family Office Services & Advisory, will offer asset management and advisory services to Swiss and international single and multi-family offices. Wegelin & Co is keen to emphasise that the division has not been established to be in itself a family office, but is instead intended to consolidate the bank’s existing core competencies.

The division will offer advice on qualitative asset management, and its structuring, and cash and risk management. Guidance on the use of passive instruments such as index and exchange traded funds, tactical asset allocation, and the efficient management of beta risks within the portfolio are also part of the service offering.

“Family offices have very specific needs. With a highly specialised team, Wegelin & Co aims to provide this client segment with a focused service offering and thus be well prepared for the ever-increasing demand. Existing clients will also profit from the new structure. The over-riding advantage of the concept is that we ourselves do not offer family office services, but rather, focus on independent advisory services. This way, conflicts of interest can be avoided,” said Dr Adrian Künzi, managing partner of Wegelin & Co.

In other developments this year, in April Wegelin & Co entered a partnership agreement with three cantonal banks to help them offer improved private banking services to clients.

Under the partnerships, the cantonal banks of Nidwalden, Obwalden and Uri still advise their clients, but Wegelin & Co provides the institutions with investment methods and research.

Just prior to this, Wegelin & Co opened a second office in Lausanne, the capital of the Swiss canton of Vaud.