Swiss Bank Syz Expands Home Operations With Acquisition

Shirin Aguiar

5 January 2022

, the Geneva-based banking group, is to expand its Swiss German business with the strategic acquisition of independent asset manager BHA Partners.

The acquisition, which represents SFr1 billion ($1.09 billion) in assets unjder management, is an important milestone that the Swiss bank said would significantly deepen its presence in Zurich, and the broader Swiss domestic market. Further acquisitions to strengthen its home market are planned, the firm said yesterday.

Nicolas Syz, head of private banking at Bank Syz, will lead the merger and integration of the businesses, which will enable the bank to deliver investment and wealth management solutions to a wider audience.

The acquisition of Zurich-based BHA Partners, with a seven-strong team, completed in December 2021. Benefits of the deal will include, for example, BHA clients now being able to invest alongside the Syz family in private markets, the bank said.

The acquisition also strengthens Bank Syz’s Zurich-based private banking team, and has the advantage of the new bankers, who specialise in the Swiss German, Swedish and UK markets, sharing the same values and entrepreneurial mindset that defines Syz’s DNA, it said.

The team will continue to focus on business development and client servicing. Existing clients of BHA will be able to use Syz’s investment knowledge, while having the choice of retaining their assets with their existing banks, thanks to the group’s newly-launched Syz multi-custody offering.

“Independent asset managers today face most of the same compliance and administrative burdens as banks. After starting our careers in large banks and then leaving to set up our own business due to the bureaucracy and lack of client focus we experienced, it made returning to a traditional bank unappealing,” Henrik Hedman, principal partner at BHA, said.

“What made joining Bank Syz so attractive was the entrepreneurial culture of performance-driven client service – and an organisation designed to ensure that bankers remain focused on serving their clients while offering them outstanding investment solutions and fully respecting the highest standards of compliance.”

“This strategic acquisition will be the first of many for Bank Syz, as we look to bolster our home market activity. Reinforcing our wealth management footprint in the Zurich financial hub will also allow us to broaden our contacts with the German-speaking markets over the long term,” Yvan Gaillard, chief executive of Bank Syz, said.

In November, the bank appointed Dominik Staffelbach as head of Switzerland to lead its domestic expansion strategy.