Swiss Life Bolsters Gottardo with Cash Injection

Contributing Editor

11 October 2005

Swiss Life, the insurance company that owns Banca del Gottardo, is to inject SFr120 million of cash into the Lugano-based private bank, according to a report in Swiss daily Basler Zeitung. The money will help Banca del Gottardo to pursue its goal of concentrating on private banking clients in Switzerland and Italy, according to the report. Last week, Banca del Gottardo announced its strategy of focusing on private banking and appointed a new chief executive and finance director to drive the strategy forward. The changes are viewed by some analysts as an effort by Swiss Life to make Gottardo a more appealing acquisition or merger target. Gottardo has been the subject of constant speculation over its future for more than three years, with a sale to the Italian bank UniCredito falling through at the last possible moment in 2003. The emphasis on private banking is seen as a way of making the bank more attractive as a possible merger or acquisition target, say analysts. Currently, Gottardo has a major lending business to small and medium-sized firms in the Lugano region. Lastest rumours suggest Swiss Life is looking at a possible merger between Gottardo and BSI, another Lugano-based private bank owned by Generali of Italy. But all the parties involved have denied any planned merger.