Leading Swiss Private Bank opens for customers in DIFC

Vontobel launches Private Banking activities in Dubai

• Leading Swiss private bank will service clients across the MENA Region and Indian Subcontinent from its new regional hub located in Dubai International Financial Centre

 The Vontobel Group is establishing a Private Banking presence in Dubai with the aim of providing service and advice directly to wealthy private clients in the region. Through a team of specialists, the independent wealth and asset manager and leading Swiss provider of financial products will now also make its proven expertise in the field of structured products available to clients in the Middle East, in addition to its offerings in Switzerland and Germany. Vontobel is thus expanding its wealth and asset management activities in a dynamic growth market and is broadening its product range to include innovative services from its Financial Products business. Its Private Banking operations in Dubai will be managed by Ramzi Charaf, a seasoned private banker who, together with his team, joined Vontobel in summer 2011.

Vontobel’s new presence in Dubai will enable private clients in the region to benefit directly from its expertise in the fields of wealth management, asset management and financial products and to access the Group’s first-class specialist knowhow. Peter Fanconi, Head of Private Banking at the Vontobel Group, views the expansion of the business into the Middle East as both a logical step forward and a response to the region’s undiminished growth potential. He explained: “Our activities in Dubai are based on a systematic cross-border strategy that is designed to serve and advise wealthy private clients in international markets in compliance with local regulations but using our powerful booking platform in Switzerland.”

Roger Studer, Head of Investment Banking at the Vontobel Group, added: “Structured products should form an integral part of the investment portfolios of wealthy private clients. As a leading Swiss issuer, we combine our recognized expertise in the field of financial products with our competencies as a wealth and asset manager to create clear added value for our clients. Furthermore, our modular architecture offers benefits such as allowing third-party providers to structure their own derivatives using our sophisticated ‘deritrade’ distribution platform (www.deritrade.com). Vontobel supplies an extensive range of underlyings, as well as a large number of different product types with diverse risk/return profiles, to enable providers to design structured products.

Vontobel’s Private Banking business is Dubai will be managed by Ramzi Charaf, a Swiss and Lebanese citizen with many years of private banking experience. He joined Vontobel in summer 2011 as Regional Head for the Private Clients business. Together with his team, he will ensure that Vontobel’s first-class reputation as a solid, independent Swiss wealth and asset manager becomes firmly established in Dubai.

Vontobel will conduct its Private Banking activities and distribute structured products in the region through its own local bank. Bank Vontobel (Middle East) Ltd. holds a Category 3 licence from DFSA (Dubai Financial Services Authority) and is domiciled in Liberty House in Dubai.[mpoverlay][/mpoverlay]