Coutts latest foreign bank to leave Switzerland

The Swiss private banking sector will undergo further consolidation after the Geneva-based Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) agreed a deal to buy the non-British business of Coutts from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

RBS said Friday it expects the handover to be completed by the end of the year subject to regulatory approval, which includes UBP getting a bank license in Hong Kong. Neither bank disclosed the price that will be paid for the CHF32 billion ($33.4 billion) of assets under management.

UBP would only say that estimates ranging from $600 million to $800 million, put out by some news media, were too high.

The deal is the latest in a string of recent acquisitions (either completed or in process) as some foreign banks decide to exit the Swiss market. Some banks have been spurred by the need to shed non-core activities after the global financial crisis and tightening of regulations.

A joint report by KMPG and the University of St Gallen last year found that a third of private banks in Switzerland made a loss in 2013. Analysts believe other foreign banks in Switzerland may have been put off by a number of tax evasion scandals involving Swiss banks.