The Julius Baer Group, a Swiss private banking group, has announced that it will be cetralising its European operations to Luxembourg.

Boris Collardi, CEO of Julius Baer, made the announcement on Tuesday, the day after the group published its half-year report for 2017. He explained that the decision was a strategic one, and that its European hub will move from Frankfurt to Luxembourg, with Frankfurt and London still important centres for them.

The Julius Baer Group has locations in more than 20 countries; Switzerland and Asia are the group’s two home markets, with the head office being located in Zurich. Julius Baer’s origins date back to 1890; it advises private clients and family offices around the world.

Julius Baer is one of twelve Swiss banks using Luxembourg as a hub to export their services across the EU.

Falk Fischer, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors at Bank Julius Baer Luxembourg, explained to Luxembourg for Finance the reasons for choosing Luxembourg. He stated "Swiss banks do not have access to the single market of the EU, so to advise clients we needed an EU banking passport. A second reason was to set up our European platform because of the state-of-the-art IT technology in Luxembourg."

The bank was also impressed by the modern legal and regulatory framework and high culture of investor protection. “Luxembourg is important to Julius Baer because of its financial stability, the access to the decision makers both in politics and with the financial regulator, because of its product know-how and because of the very stable legal and regulatory framework” Falk Fischer added.

In 2016, Julius Baer strengthened its presence in Luxembourg with the acquisition of Commerzbank International S.A. Luxembourg, a fully-licensed private bank.

In Luxembourg, Julius Baer currently employs more than 200 people from 20 different countries, in the former Commerzbank building, located in the Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg's Finance Minister, has congratulated the group for choosing Luxembourg as its European hub for wealth management.