Dubai: Falcon Private Wealth Dubai, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Falcon Private Bank Switzerland, on Wednesday announced the start of operations from the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
The private banking boutique has a Category III (C3) banking licence from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to operate from DIFC.
Falcon Private Bank, controlled by Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments, currently has a representative office in Abu Dhabi in addition to the newly opened operations in the DIFC.
Senior executives of the bank said, the opening of operations in the DIFC will substantially enhance its reach to its Middle East client base which include, high networth Individuals and family offices from Middle East Africa, Russia and the Indian subcontinent.
“The DIFC is a well-regulated global financial hub. We think our presence here will enable us to better service our regional customers. We didn’t have any compulsion from our shareholders to open in Abu Dhabi Global Markets. But in the future that is an option,” said Eduardo Leemann, Chief Executive Officer of Falcon Private Bank.
The bank currently has a total of $18 billion assets under management with about $2.5 billion of that coming from the Middle East region. While more than 80 per cent of assets are booked from Switzerland, Falcon also has a booking platform based out of Singapore.
The bank’s typical target customers are investors with total investable assets in excess of $5 million. Falcon offers both customised financial solutions and discretionary mandates and advisory service from the DIFC.
Falcon has a target of doubling its assets under management to $5 billion in next three years despite the fall in oil prices and the regional geopolitical tensions.
“We think the target is achievable given the strong wealth generation in the region. A number of high netwroth customers are looking for wealth preservation in a safe environment. As a boutique bank, we are much more agile in meeting the wealth management needs of regional customers in a complex global regulatory environment,” said Dr. Erich Pfister, Global Head Private Banking and Chairman of Falcon Private Wealth Dubai.
The bank, headquartered in Zurich, has operations in Geneva, London, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The new DIFC office will have 21 staff and the number of relationship managers are expected to go up as the number of clients and assets under management increase.
