The banking system in Switzerland is undergoing crucial changes. The legendary banks known for their proficiency in storing secrets of the customers are about to go transparent. The directors of two biggest Swiss banks decided to be the first to release the financial statements; the pathbreakers are Odier and Pictet & Cie. Other banks will follow. Representatives of Pictet, Switzerland’s third-largest bank, announced readiness to present their financial reports. As for such giants as UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG, no comments have been provided by them yet. It should not go unmentioned that Lombard Odier и Pictet have already happened to reveal their finances at the break of the year for international monitoring, after they were restructured to meet the requirements of the watchdog. Transparency entailed certain essential shifts. Thus, for instance, partners of Odier and Pictet are no longer personally responsible for the institutions under their control. Since this is an unprecedented practice, it is still unclear which exactly data is going to be disclosed; it will take time to get this procedure full-fledged. The preponderance of Odier and Pictet clients is the world’s richest families. According to experts, together these banks oversee about $630 billion for private and institutional clients. Over a half of the assets managed by Pictet established in 1805 is owned by institutional customers, so this is the bank’s priority. Lombard Odier manages 47.7 billion of institutional investors, at least this was the figure registered at the end of 2013 versus 25.2 billion in 2008. Founded in 1786, Lombard Odier is the oldest private banks in Switzerland.
