Banca Generali Buys Private Banking Operations In Italy From Swiss Bank

Tom Burroughes

10 July 2014

Banca Generali has reached a deal to acquire the Italian “affluent and upper affluent” private banking operations of Credit Suisse Italy, it said today. Consideration for the sale is within a range of €47 million ($64 million) to €50 million, with the sale planned for November this year.

The deal involves the sale of the business line including the agency contracts of about 60 financial advisors of Credit Suisse Italy, accounting for a current total portfolio of over €2 billion in assets under management.

This agreement is part of a pattern of merger and acquisition transactions involving banks in Switzerland and neighbouring countries in recent years; in some cases, this has been pushed by a desire among banks to focus on core operations to bolster profits. Credit Suisse has made a number of acquisitions and disposals in the past year or so, for example.
Taking advantage of current market conditions, such as low interest rates, is expediting the implementation in Italy of its global strategy of focusing its asset management business on entrepreneurs and large families who can benefit from its integrated advisory model with both asset management and investment banking advice,” the statement said.

Giorgio Riccucci, head of Private Banking Market Area Italy, Credit Suisse, said: "This deal, along with the recent acquisition of Morgan Stanley’s private banking operations in Italy, will allow us to actively pursue our project of focusing on HNWI and UHNWI clients. In the UHNWI segment alone, we recorded inflows of assets under management of over €1 billion in the first six months of 2014. We will continue in this direction. We have planned significant investments of both an organic and non-organic nature.”