The Swiss wealth manager's profit surged last year, thanks to business abroad. Reyl, with a strong foothold in Singapore, also signaled its openness to partnerships for growth.

The bank's full-year profit rose by one-third to 8.3 million Swiss francs ($8.6 million, it said in a statement. This followed a nine percent rise in income to 91.1 million. It voiced confidence in its outlook but didn't reference the global pandemic or detail specific expectations.

Reyl's subsidiaries in Switzerland as well as abroad, especially in the Middle East and in Asia, contributed strongly to 2019 growth. They pitched in a cumulative 3.2 billion francs in new assets, which is 14 percent more than in 2018. Assets at Reyl Overseas in Zurich, an Securities and Exchange Commission-registered wealth manager that caters to U.S. clients, surged by two-thirds.

Bulking Up

All told, the family-owned and partner-led bank's assets rose 20 percent to 13.6 billion francs, of which 1.2 billion francs were fresh client money. Reyl also bulked up on staff, adding nearly two dozen employees to reach 223 people at year-end.

«We have increased our investments and teams over the years to build strong synergies between our business lines that benefit our clients,» Reyl said. In October, it set up a new fund arm, Asteria, under ex-Banque Syz asset management head Katia Coudray. «We intend to pursue a growth strategy that is both organic and based on value-enhancing institutional partnerships,» CEO François Reyl said.