Kateryna Viy

Cécile Civiale Vuillier

The duo, who met with this news service in their Rue des Alpes office in Geneva, argued that their business is built on “trusted relationships rather than transactions.” Clients usually approach them when faced with important personal, family or business transitions that require independent, cross-border expertise.

The most common areas where help is needed include wealth structuring and preservation, succession and estate planning, governance for family businesses, international relocation, trust and fiduciary services, corporate structuring, and banking relationships. MO also supports clients with philanthropy, luxury assets, and the coordination of complex international matters involving multiple professional advisors. 

The businesses
In Switzerland, MO has three executive staff members and one non-executive legal counsel based in Geneva. In Hong Kong, the business has a team of four professionals. In addition, it also benefits from the operational support of HKCS Group, a prominent corporate services provider in Hong Kong. HKCS Group, which has a dedicated team of about 25 professionals, it provides company secretarial, corporate administration, regulatory filing and related administrative support to its Hong Kong operations. MO shares the same office.

Fees are a mix of one-off engagement and implementation fees; annual fixed retainers for ongoing fiduciary and corporate services and hourly or project-based advisory fees for bespoke mandates. Revenue comes from corporate and trust establishment and restructuring; trustee, fiduciary, directorship and protector services; family governance, succession and estate planning advisory; corporate secretarial and ongoing administration services; cross-border wealth structuring and coordination with external professional advisors (tax, legal and banking), and annual administration, compliance and governance retainers. 

Consistency counts
Clients want to be able to talk to the same people at a firm over time, and it is also important to have face-to-face contact – there’s no substitute for this, Viy told this publication.

“AI is the total opposite to what we are. We believe in the human touch…we cherish our clients,” Viy said. 

This isn't a nine-to-five job.

“They want to be able to talk to you at 6:00 am on a Sunday,” Civiale Vuillier said, noting the contrast with the more regimented approach that larger financial institutions tend to follow.

In a crowded field, with consolidation among some financial institutions, there remains a place for the specialist players if they have the experience that clients are looking for, Civiale Vuiller and Viy argued. 

Hong Kong
The Hong Kong-Swiss connection makes sense, given recent figures showing that Hong Kong is already the world’s largest cross-border financial centre, ahead of Switzerland in second place and Singapore at third spot. (Hong Kong is also among the world’s main IPO hotspots.)

By what almost appeared to Civiale Vuillier as a lucky accident, MO acquired the former International Fiduciaries Ltd business in Hong Kong at the start of this year, giving it an important presence in a jurisdiction that is bouncing back after the pandemic.

Expats from the US, UK, France and other countries are heading back to Hong Kong. “Hong Kong is reborn,” she said.

“I believe we are witnessing the emergence of one of the most important wealth management corridors globally. Switzerland and Asia are highly complementary rather than competing jurisdictions,” Ceviale Vuillier said. “Switzerland continues to be recognised for its political stability, legal certainty, sophisticated wealth management expertise and long tradition in estate planning. At the same time, Asia, and Hong Kong in particular, has become the centre of wealth creation, entrepreneurship and family businesses.” (To see an article looking at the whole "corridor" approach to thinking about business strategy, see here.)

Viy said there is “tremendous interest” in Hong Kong from clients who are in the Middle East, for example. And the city has an important relationship with mainland China that in some ways mirrors that of Monaco and France, she said. 

Client areas
MO’s three broad areas – private clients, corporate clients and institutional clients – work in tandem and give the business a healthy dose of diversification. Viy said the entrepreneur area of work is a busy one right now. “Younger, creative people are particularly keen to talk to us,” she said. 

With her experience spanning many decades of working with private and corporate clients, Civiale Vuillier – also a former chairwoman of the STEP Swiss & Liechtenstein Federation – is experienced at seeing trends unfold. For example, she’s noted a distinct rise in the number of Americans seeking foreign residency and investment opportunities outside the US. This is a force that has intensified since the pandemic, she said. 

In Viy’s case, she has more than a decade of experience in wealth, corporate and estate planning services under her belt. She holds a Trust and Estate Planner designation – and in a rapid ascent in the sector, she’s notched up an award as a Wealth Management Star under 40 at the 2025 WealthBriefing Awards in Switzerland. Viy also acts as a judge in this publication’s European awards. 

Reflecting on the globalised nature of this business, Viy is also multi-lingual, speaking English, French, Russian and Ukrainian – useful attributes in a fast-changing wealth management landscape.

“Clients don’t see us as a startup. They come to us for our expertise,” Civiale Vuillier said.

“In five years’, I would like MO to be recognised as one of the leading independent boutique firms in international wealth structuring and governance for entrepreneurial families. Our ambition is not to become the largest player, but to be one of the most respected. We want to be known for delivering highly personalised, cross-border solutions through our presence in Switzerland and Asia, supported by a trusted network of professional partners worldwide,” she added.