Strategy
Private Bank Hurt By 1MDB Scandal Says It Is On Road To Recovery

The firm has also elected a new chairman and appointed three new Swiss members to its board.
A private bank that was last year kicked out of Singapore amid
probes into a scandal-hit investment fund said it has
“rigorously” de-risked its client book and completed major
restructures to improve compliance.
Falcon Group “has taken
decisive steps to build a solid and sustainable basis for its
future growth,” the bank said in a statement.
The firm has also elected a new chairman and appointed three new
Swiss members to its board.
Falcon described 2016 as a “challenging year”, for which it
posted a loss of SFr128 million ($129 million) after it was
forced to close in Singapore last October because of serious
failures in anti-money laundering controls.
An investigation carried out by the city-state's financial
watchdog, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, found that the
bank processed suspicious transactions tied to 1Malaysia
Development Berhad, or 1MDB, Malaysia's state-owned investment
fund.
Singaporean authorities arrested Falcon's then-Singapore branch
manager Jens Sturzenegger in October and later
charged him with 16 counts, which included failing to report
$1.27 billion of inflows into two suspicious bank
accounts.
1MDB is currently the subject of money laundering probes in at
least six countries including the US, Singapore, Switzerland and,
most recently, Australia. Authorities allege that Malaysian
officials and their associates have siphoned off billions of
dollars from the fund, using banks such as Falcon to cover their
tracks.
Falcon says its efforts to recover and reinvent itself since it
shut shop in Singapore have paid off.
“Clearly exceeding regulatory requirements, we had a consolidated
capital adequacy ratio of over 20 per cent and a solid liquidity
cushion of around 140 per cent at the end of January 2017,” the
group said.
Falcon added that is has taken “relentless action” to address
remaining legacy issues and has made “good progress” in
strengthening its compliance and risk framework to meet FINMA,
the Swiss financial regulator, requirements.
Meanwhile, the group said Lennart Blecher will step down from his
role as chairman after spending nearly 13 years in the seat.
Christian Wenger succeeds Blecher as chairman. He has been a
member of the board since 2005. Murtadha Al Hashmi, a board
member since 2005, is now vice chairman.
Joining the board as new members are Marc Bernegger, Martin
Keller and Dominik Schärer.
Bernegger is a financial technology, or fintech, expert,
according to Falcon. He has founded various online platforms and
is an investor in start-ups.
Keller has extensive experience in building and running global
finance businesses, with a focus on asset management, private
wealth management and capital markets, Falcon says.
Schärer has more than 30 years' experience in financial services
and specialises in institutional work. From 2007 until last year,
he was chairman of Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in Zurich,
Switzerland.
“Our reputation and our financial stability are of utmost
importance,” said Walter Berchtold, Falcon's chief executive.
“With the completion of our financial restructuring and the
de-risking of our client-book we have laid the foundation for
long-term success. We are highly confident of our capabilities to
create sustainable value for clients, employees and our
shareholder alike."