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Vast Riches Await

Nevertheless, several assumptions can safely be made: vast riches await the 43-year-old Collardi, but not until he has bought himself in as one of seven partners. Pictet offers a lending facility as a sort of glide path for new partners – no one has to sell their home to buy in, as one banker puts it.

How much will he have to spend to get in the door? Pictet reports some of its results, but most of the bank’s inner financial workings remain a black box. It recorded a net profit of 522 million francs last year, and held or oversaw custody for 462 billion francs at the end of 2016.

«Pictet’s platform and brand are very strong and based on very limited available financial information a valuation in excess, possibly well in excess of 10 billion Swiss francs would not be surprising,» according to Pascal Ravery, a 30-year veteran of J.P. Morgan and head of investment banking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and vice-chairman of Europe until 2014.

Profit Split

Profits are shared between partners – currently six, and with Collardi seven – as well as a second layer of 36 top bankers who also own equity.

The formula for splitting profits, or how much is retained is, of course, strictly guarded. Just as pay isn’t subject to caps, Pictet is also at greater liberty to build up so-called silent reserves off balance sheet because of its legal structure.

Partners vs Shareholders

A Pictet spokesman declined to comment on specifics, saying that «pay practices at partner-led firms are fundamentally different than at publicly-listed firms, and thus not comparable.»

Of the little that is known of its financials, the bank is the picture of health and capital solidity, and enjoys healthy prospects for its two main businesses, asset management and private banking.

So much so that Collardi will hardly weep for the 7 million-plus francs that he is leaving behind at Julius Baer.