Dubai: Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank, which is owned by Abu Dhabi fund Aabar, will open a representative office in the emirate in the first quarter of 2011, the bank said late on Wednesday.
The office "will enable Falcon Private Bank to maintain its focus on establishing a particularly firm foothold in the United Arab Emirates," chairman Khadem Al Qubaisi said in an emailed statement.
Aabar, a government-owned investment firm, last year bought the Swiss-based banking division of American International Group Inc. and renamed it Falcon Private Bank.
The largest shareholder in Daimler AG, Aabar delisted its shares from the Abu Dhabi stock exchange last month becoming a private joint stock company.
Qubaisi said Falcon's strategy was "beginning to bear fruit." Net new money in private banking grew 50 per cent, the statement said without giving a time period.
Falcon Private Bank also holds 42.5 per cent of Bank Zweiplus, according to the statement.
The other 57.5 per cent is owned by controlling shareholder Bank Sarasin & Cie.
Aabar last year invested $328 million (Dh1.2 billion) for a stake in the Brazilian unit of Spain's Banco Santander.
