Falcon Private Bank is about to fold. But it may take a long time before the company will have disappeared for real.
Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank is close to folding, after a four-year struggle. The bank will say this week that it first has sold the client portfolios, that it will hand back the banking license, before going into liquidation, according to a report by «Neue Zuercher Zeitung» (behind paywall).
A week ago, the bank had confirmed that it was looking at that option together with its owner, the Aabar company from Abu Dhabi. A liquidation of a company such as Falcon takes time though and the divestment of client portfolios such as Falcon's (currently worth about 10 billion Swiss francs) may take up to two years.
Unsuccessful Attempts
The decision to throw in the towel would take the company to the end of four-year struggle. In 2016, it had become known that the bank was involved in the scandal that engulfed the Malaysian state fund 1MDB. The company had charged Walter Berchtold with the task of steering the bank into calmer waters.
But neither Berchtold nor his successor Martin Keller managed to turn the tide. The new focus on crypto-banking or the attempts at selling the private bank were successful.
