Private, European family-owned bank continues international growth

For a family-owned bank founded on the conservative principles of security and care, Banque Havilland SA is certainly wasting no time growing into a major international private investment firm.

The Luxembourg-based institution was established in 2009 during the fallout of the financial crisis. Like many wealthy individuals, British real estate mogul David Rowland was concerned about the danger of his fortune floating freely in a bubble-friendly stock market. To solve the problem, he started Havilland and set out to attract ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNW) like himself.

This aim for UHNW clients was a calculated move. Firstly, it would keep the company small and intimate, and it would also allow Havilland to focus on the unique needs of the super-rich. In addition to services like discretionary asset management and art advisory, Havilland also wanted to bring a collaborative approach to investing, and invites its clients to join in on everything for investment advising to private equity co-ventures.
Within just a couple of years, Havilland started to see the value in having multiple locations scattered in different geographic realms in order to serve its cosmopolitan clients, many of whom have a range of investments and financial interests that span borders and even continents.

Havilland moved to open a location in Monaco, then another in London, all within the first three years of operation. Then, the bank really got ambitious. Over the past 14 months, Havilland has acquired either majority or 100 percent stakes in three subsidiaries of Banque Pasche, a Geneva, Switzerland-based firm specializing in the same kind of super-rich wealth management as Havilland. Those locations, in Monaco, Liechtenstein, and the Bahamas, have allowed Havilland to provide consistent and personalized services in multiple locations — all of them strategic for their proximity to emerging markets and growth potential.

Now, there is talk of Havilland eventually acquiring the rest of Banque Pasche. The latter bank, established way back in 1885 as Girard, Roux & Cie, has only its two Swiss locations remaining — Geneva and Zurich — and could be completely absorbed by the upstart bank from Luxembourg. In the process, Havilland has gone from a small family operation into a multinational investment bank catering to the whims of an increasing number of UHNW individuals.