Profile Of Switzerland/Liechtenstein Awards Judges - Cecile Civiale Vuillier

Tom Burroughes

18 October 2013

This publication is holding the inaugural Switzerland and Liechtenstein Awards for outstanding performance, both at the institutional and individual level, in wealth management. (To view the full details of these awards, see here.) A crucial part of the process of course is having a panel of judges with the experience and knowledge to assess the entries.

Here is Cecile Civiale Vuillier, former chair of STEP Suisse Romande. She was recently managing director of Alpadis in Switzerland, with responsibility for Swiss operations. Cecile previously spent two years at Bedell Trust Suisse as director and then managing director, and before that worked in a management company in Switzerland for eight years, where she provided international trust and corporate services to clients worldwide.

Here are some of her views on the opportunities and challenges of the Swiss and Liechtenstein wealth management industries:

"Switzerland remains one of the largest private wealth management hubs in the world in 2013. Furthermore, it consistently achieves top scores in competitiveness rankings when numerous neighbour countries continue to witness high levels of instability. (Switzerland is, once again, number one today according to The Global Competitiveness Report 2012/2013)," she said.

"The global financial industry is fighting with phenomenal change and turmoil but among the “endless” and widespread changes taking place throughout this sector, there will certainly continue to be a number of business opportunities. While some of the rules and regulations have yet to be finalised, others are already becoming very clear," she continued.

"I see a transformational change within wealth management internationally. Wealth managers face key decisions over their cross-border estate planning issues and need to make difficult choices over how and where to service clients. Organisations are struggling to keep up with the range and speed of current and future regulatory modifications. Putting the needs and interests of clients ahead instead of simply maximising profit are areas of focus. There are important changes taking place," she said.

"Being open with regulators and working with integrity is easier said than done. Organisations must motivate their staff to embrace the highest codes of ethical behavior. The private banking and wealth management industry’s trusted advisor status in Switzerland must be “healed”. Wealth managers face more complex and uncertain regulation, which is having a strong impact on the industry. Successful players will rethink their business models to better adapt to the transparent world. This does not mean the end of the wealth management in Switzerland. On the contrary, they will continue to succeed but they must adopt and adjust to the changing landscape," she said.

"Switzerland’s status as providing the best quality of life in the world needs to be safeguarded. The image of the Swiss financial sector has been damaged by the credit crunch; today professionals in the financial industry repositioned themselves and created a new offering beyond the traditional features of low tax and bank secrecy. The combination of a stable government with a long history of noteworthy wealth management and a business-friendly legal system has always attracted companies to establish corporate headquarters in Switzerland and encouraged HNW individuals for choosing Switzerland as their wealth management favourite," she said.

"I think that the Place Financière Suisse is different today due to the various changes it has experienced recently and that we are definitely entering into a new dimension with brighter days ahead," she added.