Two years ago, it proudly celebrated its 175th anniversary. Now, an Arab financial institution has unexpectedly taken over Gonet, a private bank in Geneva. What happened?
Jordanian-owned Arab Bank (Switzerland) has acquired a majority stake in the Geneva-based private bank Gonet, the two highly divergent institutions announced in a surprise move Thursday afternoon.
The 60-year-old Arab Bank (Switzerland) takes a majority stake in the family holding company, which now owns the firm founded in 1845. Nicolas Gonet, the current CEO, hands over his post to Jean-René Lepezel, a member of the executive committee and head of private banking since 2017, in early 2023.
New Management, Old Acquaintances
(From left: Jean-René Lepezel, Serge Robin, Nicolas Gonet. Image: Gonet)
Gonet will join the Board of Directors of «his» bank, of which he will become Chairman in 2024, and will also sit on the Board of Arab Bank (Switzerland). Serge Robin, CEO of Arab Bank (Switzerland), will join Gonet's Board of Directors. Robin is familiar with Bank Gonet, having been a partner and deputy CEO at Gonet from 2010 to 2018.
The two banks are similar, with Arab Bank's 6 billion Swiss francs of assets under management in the ballpark of Gonet's 5.5 billion. The two will continue to exist separately, retaining their autonomy, name, and banking licenses. Both banks will be in a holding company.
Gastronomy Instead of Banking
The transaction is presented as a strategic partnership giving customers of both banks access to an expanded range of products and services. The two institutions, as currently structured, are too small to survive in Switzerland's highly competitive and highly regulated private banking environment in the long term.
In Geneva banking circles it was learned Thursday evening that Nicolas Gonet, who has no family successors capable of continuing the banking business, prefers devoting himself to his other interests, particularly gastronomy, namely his restaurant «Le Lyrique» in Geneva's banking district.
