Swiss Bank Zweiplus which mainly serves direct clients and qualified investors, becomes wholly owned subsidiary of the Swiss-Brazilian J. Safra Sarasin Group.
The J. Safra Sarasin Group announced Tuesday it acquired the remaining 42.5 percent of the Swiss online bank Zweiplus from Luxembourg-based Aabar Trading, a subsidiary of the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi.
Zweiplus will remain a Finma-licensed company and operate independently. No financial details were provided by either side about the transaction.
Other Investments
Aabar Trading also controlled Falcon Private Bank, which held a stake in Bank Zweiplus. Falcon ran into trouble due to its involvement with Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB corruption scandal and was wound down. Ticino-based One Swiss Bank took over Falcon's client book in 2020.
«The acquisition of the remaining shares in Bank Zweiplus is a natural evolution that will allow clients and employees to benefit from our commitment to further invest and expand the bank's offering and expertise,» said Daniel Belfer, CEO of Bank J. Safra Sarasin and Bank Zweiplus chairman.
Checkered History
Bank Zweiplus was originally created in 2008 from the customer base of various unsuccessful online banking projects including AIG, Swiss Life, Zurich Invest and BZ Bank under the aegis of the then Basel-based private bank Sarasin. From 2012 until 2018, the media group was on board with its Cash brand and is now still involved through a collaboration.
As of the end of 2020, Bank Zweiplus reported CHF 6.1 billion in customer assets and employed 95 people.
