Italian and foreign banks: entries and exits

The foreign share of the market

Foreign-controlled banks have been the largest category of banks in Ticino since the boom of the 1960s and 1970s. In 2010 the canton counted 41 foreign-controlled banks, three branches of foreign banks and two private bankers. By 2024 only 19 foreigncontrolled banks remained.¹ Behind these numbers lie two different groups of institutions. The first consists of the Swiss subsidiaries of foreign banking groups, mostly French, Italian and other European, which established themselves in Lugano to serve clients from their home countries and from Latin America. The second consists of Swiss banks headquartered in Zurich or Geneva that maintain branches in Lugano, such as Julius Baer, which joined the ABT in 1947, Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) (1958/1967), Banque Syz (2005), Banque Cramer (2007), Bank J. Safra Sarasin (2009), LGT Bank (Switzerland) (2014), Vontobel (2016), Union Bancaire Privée (2019) and the online bank Swissquote (2024). French groups are represented by BNP Paribas (Suisse), a member since 1975, and CA Indosuez (Switzerland), a member since 2001.² For the Lugano market the presence of these institutions means that clients can choose between local banks and the Lugano offices of national and international groups whose booking centre may lie in Geneva or Zurich.

Italian banking groups in Lugano: from Generali's BSI to BG Suisse

Italian banking and insurance groups have shaped the Lugano market at least since the 1960s, as Chapter D.II shows. In the period covered by this chapter the most important Italian owner was the insurance group Generali, which held BSI from 1998 until its sale to BTG Pactual in 2014. The exits of Italian groups after 2009 followed a common logic. When the tax amnesties and the voluntary disclosure programme brought Italian clients' assets into the open, the parent banks in Italy could offer the same clients the same products at home, under Italian tax rules and without the cost of a Swiss subsidiary. A Swiss subsidiary remained useful only for clients who wanted Swiss custody for reasons of diversification, political risk or residence, and for clients outside Italy.

Two transactions illustrate the exits. In 2010 UniCredit sold its Swiss private banking subsidiary, UniCredit (Suisse) Bank SA, to BancaStato, which renamed it Axion SWISS Bank, as described above.³ In 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo decided to merge its Lugano-based Swiss private bank, Intesa Sanpaolo Private Bank (Suisse) Morval, into the Geneva bank REYL, in which the Intesa group's private banking arm, Fideuram – Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, had acquired a 69 per cent stake. The legal integration was completed on 18 February 2022 after FINMA's approval. The combined bank, REYL Intesa Sanpaolo, had assets under administration of more than CHF 25 billion and more than 400 employees, while REYL's partners kept 31 per cent.⁴ At the time of the merger the Lugano offices counted about 70 employees and managed about CHF 6 billion.⁵ The Italian group thus remained present in Lugano, but through a bank with its head office in Geneva.

Other transactions show a return of Italian interest. Banca Generali, the private banking group of the Generali group, acquired the Lugano asset manager Valeur Fiduciaria in 2019 and renamed it BG Valeur.⁶ In October 2023 its new Swiss subsidiary, BG Suisse Private Bank, received a banking licence from FINMA, which the financial press described as the first licence granted to an Italian financial institution in fifteen years. Its chief executive, Renato Santi, aimed to reach about CHF 5 billion of assets within three years. In August 2024 the bank had 22 employees in Lugano and planned offices in Zurich and Geneva. Its model relies on a multi-booking platform approved by FINMA and on Italian-speaking advice for Italian clients who want Swiss custody.⁷ BG Suisse joined the ABT in 2024. The Italian daily Il Foglio reported in 2024 that Mediobanca had recruited the core of Credit Suisse's Italian team for very wealthy clients, that Intesa Sanpaolo was open to small acquisitions in Switzerland and that Banca Finint was watching the Lugano market.⁸

Notes

1. Chopard (2011, above); USTAT, 12 Denaro e banche (March 2026, above), T. 12.1. ↩
2. Associazione Bancaria Ticinese, "Membri" (above). The years are those of membership in the ABT, not necessarily of establishment in Ticino. ↩
3. Gran Consiglio, M6631 (above). ↩
4. WealthBriefing, "REYL Intesa Sanpaolo Completes Legal Integration Of Swiss Business" (February 2022), https://www.wealthbriefing.com/html/article.php/reyl-intesa-sanpaolo-completes-legal-integration-of-swiss-business. In 2026 REYL's former web address redirects to a site named "Intesa Sanpaolo Wealth Management"; whether the bank has changed its name has not been verified. ↩
5. finews.ch, "Reyl & Cie passa all'offensiva in Ticino nel 2022" (13 December 2021), https://www.finews.ch/ticino/49173-reyl-intesa-saopaolo-offensiva-ticino-lugano-2022 (offices at Riva Antonio Caccia 1A and Palazzo Riforme; 70 employees in Lugano; about CHF 6 billion). ↩
6. finews.ch, "La nuova magia del denaro a Lugano (Parte 2)" (November 2021), https://www.finews.ch/ticino/48772-piazza-financiaria-nuova-magia-del-denaro-a-lugano-parte-2. ↩
7. finews.ch, "Private Banking svizzero all'italiana" (3 August 2024), https://www.finews.ch/ticino/63777-generali-banca-bg-suisse-private-bank-renato-santi-ticino-chiasso-gian-maria-mossa. Il Foglio (below) speaks of the first licence granted to non-Swiss entities in twenty years; the difference has not been resolved. ↩
8. Il Foglio, "L'altro risiko bancario. Ecco la campagna acquisti dell'Italia in Svizzera" (2024), accessed via https://ilfoglio.it/tests/2025/04/16/standard/il-nunzio-apostolico-a-kiev-kulbokas-basta-attese-serve-una-tregua--106103. The original URL of the article has not been identified. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.