How easy will it be to hire in crisis?

We already have teams that have been waiting for us to announce the closing to join, so I'm not going to start making phone calls this morning.

«Twenty to 25 more private bankers by year-end»

Based on what we have seen in other locations, we believe we will be a magnet for talent with an entrepreneurial spirit. I'm confident that we'll have 20-25 more client advisers in Switzerland by the end of the year.

Where will that take Quintet’s assets in Switzerland?

We have no short-term targets for assets under management. Our priority is to find the right professionals to build up our market coverage.

Quintet’s has hired about 200 people over the last 12 months, but you want to keep headcount steady. Where will you be cutting jobs?

We're always looking for ways to be more efficient. We're going to build up Switzerland, and it is right for other locations to look at ways to be more efficient and create synergies.

Can I ask you to put a number and a timeline to that?

No, I can’t answer that.

You’ve come into existence in Switzerland by acquisition. Will you do more?

Our focus in Switzerland is to grow organically. We believe consolidation will continue, if not increase. So we may play a role there, but Plan A is to grow organically. If there are interesting opportunities, we have a team that looks at that.

Have that team noticed any intensifying in potential M&A opportunities in recent weeks because of the crisis?

Yes. The crisis makes clear if you don't have a plan, the right team, the capital, and a long-term horizon, it's going to be very hard. So some will have to look for alternatives. Others will look for fresh capital because they see the opportunity to grow.

Emmanuel Fievet was appointed CEO of Quintet in Switzerland five weeks ago. The 50-year-old private banker was most recently Quintet's head in Luxembourg for several months before taking the Swiss role following the death of Juerg Zeltner, the father of the project, six weeks ago. Fievet, who is Belgian, was CEO of Edmond de Rothschild in Switzerland from 2014 to 2019. Previously, he held wealth management roles at Barclays, UBS, Citi, and J. P. Morgan in London and Geneva. He began his career in corporate banking at Dresdner Bank in Frankfurt.