Swiss private banks withstood assaults on client secrecy by the U.S., France and Germany to attract more than 50 billion francs ($53 billion) of assets since the end of 2007.
While UBS AG customers withdrew 248 billion francs during the past two and a half years, those redemptions were exceeded by net flows into the nation's 19 other biggest banks by client assets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Credit Suisse Group AG, Pictet & Cie. and Bank Sarasin & Cie. won the most funds, bringing in almost 196 billion francs between them. Swiss firms opened branches elsewhere in Europe to keep clients who no longer want to bank in Switzerland, and invested in Asia, where the number of millionaires rose 26 percent last year.
“The Swiss private banks have been underrated by those who said they were on their last legs,” said Sebastian Dovey, a managing partner at Scorpio Partnership, a London-based consulting firm. “The reality shows that while they may have been badly bruised during the financial crisis, their businesses are relatively intact and are poised for growth.”
The industry was shaken on March 13, 2009, when Switzerland agreed to work with countries investigating tax evasion to avoid being blacklisted as a haven by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Swiss have initialed or signed 28 tax treaties since then to implement international standards and help track down tax evaders. Only 16 percent of the 863 billion francs held in Swiss banks by European nationals were declared, according to estimates last year by Geneva-based broker Helvea.
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