Last night in Geneva saw outstanding practitioners in Switzerland's and Liechtenstein's wealth industry honoured in a gala event hosted by the publisher of this news service.

Luminaries from the private wealth management industry honoured outstanding practitioners last night at the inaugural Switzerland & Liechtenstein WealthBriefing awards, held in Geneva.

Firms including UBS, Credit Suisse and Julius Baer, among others, were awarded for high performance over the past year, following on from an extensive judging process. Around 250 guests in total came to the event.

At the event, held at the plush setting of the Hotel President Wilson on the shore of Lake Geneva, prominent news broadcaster and journalist Matt Frei, European Editor for, and a presenter of, Channel 4 News, and a former anchor of BBC’s World News, presented the awards and explained the judges’ reasoning. As well as presenting the awards, Frei regaled his audience with his experience and insights over events such as the recent turmoil in Ukraine - an issue likely to be very much on the minds of international bankers in jursidictions such as Switzerland and Liechtenstein. And on a very different note, the audience was also entertained by the musicians from the group Electric Strings.

The awards were sponsored by Appway, Aston Martin Geneva, BNP Paribas Suisse, BRT, Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management, smartKYC, Tag Heuer and Veuve Clicquot.

Bruce Weatherill, chairman of ClearView Financial Media, publisher of this news service, told attendees that thanks to one of the sponsors, TAG Heuer, the awards organisers had the chance to recognise the work of Make-A-Wish Foundation of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Make-A-Wish is dedicated to making a real difference in the lives of children aged between 3 and 18 who are living with a life-threatening medical condition. Its aim is simple: to turn children’s wishes into reality, making the experience truly magical and memorable.

ClearView Financial Media would like to thank everyone who has supported these awards and to all those individuals and organisations that entered the event, and we look forward to even more entries next year. To view details on the panel of judges who chose the winners, see here.