Swiss bank Mirabaud closes brokerage unit due to poor performance

Poor performance of the unit contributed to the decision, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing internal information. Keystone / Martial Trezzini

Mirabaud & Cie SA closed its brokerage arm last month as part of a strategic overhaul that would see the Swiss bank focusing on its core services including wealth and asset management, as well as corporate finance. 

Poor performance of the unit contributed to the decision, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing internal information. As a result, fixed income and equities brokerage as well as research coverage of public companies will no longer be active.  

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“Mirabaud’s corporate finance division has decided to concentrate its activities on M&A transactions advisory, debt advisory as well as alternative investment vehicles advisory,” a Mirabaud spokesperson said in an emailed statement without commenting on the performance of the brokerage business.  

The move spanning the bank’s global operations means a loss of 17 jobs, including five each in Switzerland and the UK, and seven in Spain, according to the spokesperson. Mirabaud had CHF32.4 ($38 billion) of assets under management as of July, and its balance sheet showed total assets of about $2.5 billion as of June. It employed about 750 people on average in 2023.

Mirabaud said the closing of the brokerage unit is unrelated to a ruling last month by a Swiss watchdog that the bank “seriously violated” the country’s financial-markets law by failing to properly vet client relationships and transactions for money-laundering risks. The decision is in line with the group’s efforts to bolster its core businesses, it added. 

Banking giants worldwide are eliminating hundreds of jobs in a bid to slash costs as they brace for narrowing profit margins from declining interest rates. Barclays Plc started shedding hundreds of jobs as part of a £2 billion (CHF2.2 billion) cost-cutting drive to boost returns, while BNP Paribas SA was considering dismissing 150 workers in Geneva, Bloomberg News reported in May. Citigroup Inc., which is in the process of shedding 20,000 roles globally, laid off some bankers in London amid a slump in dealmaking, Bloomberg reported in March.

(Updates with assets under management in fourth paragraph.)

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