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CBH Bank

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CBH Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique SA
IndustryFinancial services
Founded1975 (1975)
FounderJoseph Benhamou from 2004 (from 2004)
HeadquartersBoulevard Emile-Jaques-Dalcroze 7, Geneva, Switzerland
Area served
Global
Key people
Philippe Cordonier (General manager), Simon Benhamou (Deputy General Manager)
Products
RevenueCHF 105.2 million (2019)
CHF 30.7 million (2019)
CHF 19.4 million (2019)
Total assetsCHF 10 billion (2019)
Total equityCHF 232.3 million (2019)
Number of employees
Websitehttp://www.cbhbank.com/

CBH Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique SA (also, CBH Bank) was created in 1975 as a brokerage company known as stock and commodities services. In 1991, it obtained full banking license in Switzerland. The group currently employs approximately 260 employees. The current general manager is Philippe Cordonier. The bank is located in Geneva in the Canton of Geneva in Switzerland, and specialized in private banking and asset management.

The bank is owned by Benhamou family and keeps a special focus on developing banking relationships with UHNW clientele, mainly located in LATAM,[1][2] Israel,[3][4][5] Asia,[6] Russia and Venezuela.[7]

The family-owned CBH is one of Switzerland's smaller banks but has seen its assets under management more than quadruple, to $11.4 billionIncrease,[8] since 2009 from $2 billion.[9] Assets from clients located in Latin America and the Caribbean accounted for 19% of its business last year, according to financial records provided by the bank. - WSJ [10]

History

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  • 1975 – Creation of Stock and Commodity Services, a brokerage company, in Geneva
  • 1991 – Swiss Banking license
  • 1993 – Creation of 1618 SICAV family of Funds in Luxembourg
  • 1993 – Opening of a representative office in St. Moritz
  • 1995 – Opening of a fully licensed bank in Nassau, Bahamas
  • 2002 – Acquisition of PG Partner Bank AG and creation of a branch in Zürich
  • 2010 – Creation of a representative office in Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 2012 – Opening of a subsidiary in London, United Kingdom and obtaining of an FSA regulated Investment management license
  • 2014 – Acquisition of a major part of the Banque Privée Espirito Santo's Private Banking clientele[1][2]
  • 2016 – Acquisition of TTG (HK) Limited, an independent wealth management company established in Hong Kong[6]
  • 2017 – Acquisition of the Private Banking activities of FIBI Bank – Switzerland (First International Bank of Israel) based in Zürich[3][11]
  • 2018 - Acquisition of the Eastern European banking clientele of Schroeder & Co Bank AG part of Schroders Group
  • 2020 – Acquisition of minority stake of 30% of FlowBank, an entirely digital bank based in Geneva
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CBH Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique SA is the Group's umbrella company. The Bank is a company whose operations encompass all transactions that fall within the remit of an asset management bank with the status of securities trader. The bank has a branch in Zurich as well as representative offices in St. Moritz and Israel, and also operates via several subsidiaries based in the Bahamas, England, Hong Kong and Brasil. Together these entities form the corporate group CBH Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique.

Controversies and media

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Reputation "clean up" with Eliminalia

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According to the story killers project,[12] CBH Bank paid just under 229,000 euros to Eliminalia (a spanish reputation manager[13]) — after hiring one of its partners, ReputationUp — to take down content linking it to offshore companies and money laundering charges.

U.S. Venezuela corruption investigation

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CBH Bank is related in Venezuela[14] corruption cases but without strong evidence.[15] US investigators, after obtaining bank reports, alleged that CBH Bank is being used to launder the proceeds of the fraud and the embezzlement scheme by figures in Venezuela, though CBH themselves is defrauded on the scheme. CBH stated they didn't know about any money laundering activities, and complied with all laws and regulations.[16]

Switzerland’s financial regulator [17] reprimanded CBH Bank[18] for failing to fight money laundering[19] in servicing wealthy Venezuelan offshore clients.[20] Swiss National Councillor Prisca Birrer-Heimo criticized CBH Bank's risk management demanding immediate regulation changes.[21]

Kazakhstan corruption investigation

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Payments from Kazakh oligarchs lead to a complaint of suspected money laundering filed with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority Finma.[22] A Geneva-based private bank is in the spotlight – not for the first time, Sonntagszeitung reports.[23] The case concerns highly suspicious transactions [24] associated to a clan of Kazakh oligarch Akhmetzhan Yessimov.[25]

CBH is mentioned in an article of newspaper The Telegraph about Aliya Nazarbayeva, the youngest daughter of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first President of Kazakhstan.[26] Indeed the article relates the saying of Alya Nazarbayeva during a London high court hearing against her former personal financial advisor whom she accuses of wrongdoing. Among other accusations, she stated that allegedly under his recommendation she directed him to seek the purchase of a 51% stake [27] of the CBH Bank.[28] In 2016, Ms Nazarbayeva discovered that the $108 million meant to be invested in a into a controlling stake in CBH Bank were misappropriated by her personal advisor.[citation needed]

Florian Homm

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Absolute Capital Management (ACM), a hedge fund managed by Florian Homm, once reached a volume of up to three billion US dollars, but collapsed in 2007. Investors are said to have lost 200 million US dollars. Charged with investment fraud in the U.S., he disappeared in 2007. After his resignation, Florian Homm was accused by the remaining management of his company of having valued many of the assets much higher than their actual value.[29] His wife withdrew money from CBH Bank accounts.[30]

CBH Bahamas

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CBH's “serious error and negligence”[31] resulted in fraudsters plundering more than $2m from one of its client’s accounts, Bahamas' Supreme Court revealed. Justice Ian Winder, in a May 12, 2022, ruling blasted CBH Bahamas for “failing to exercise the requisite due care and skill expected” when it failed to detect signs it was communicating with criminals.[32]

Venezuela-Gold Ingots story

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In a story August 3, 2020, about a Venezuelan official allegedly hiding unexplained wealth by buying gold, The Associated Press erroneously reported some financial information about the Banco CBH. The bank's assets under management for clients located in Latin America and the Caribbean accounted for 19% of its business last year. AP corrected the story and specified that Banco CBH has no relationship with what was written in the wrong news.[33]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Portugal's Espirito Santo Family Sells Swiss Bank Assets". Bloomberg.com. 23 July 2014 – via www.bloomberg.com.
  2. ^ a b "Espirito Santo vend la majeure partie de sa banque privée basée en Suisse".
  3. ^ a b "Une banque genevoise rachète une banque israélienne à Zurich". Le Temps. 20 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Geneva and French-speaking Switzerland campaign launched". www.kh-uia.org.il. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  5. ^ "KH Geneva Chairman presents the children of Netivot with a brand-new educational playground". www.kh-uia.org.il. Archived from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Asian Wealth Management and Asian Private Banking - TTG rebrands to CBH Asia". www.hubbis.com.
  7. ^ "A Swiss Bank Keeps Cropping up in Venezuelan Corruption Cases". Bloomberg.com. 15 October 2019.
  8. ^ https://www.cbhbank.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-cbh-2019-annual-report.multi_.WEB_optimised.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  9. ^ "RAPPORT ANNUEL ANNUAL REPORT - PDF Free Download".
  10. ^ "Correction: Venezuela-Gold Ingots story". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. Associated Press. 9 September 2020. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  11. ^ "CBH Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique rachète FIBI Bank | Agefi.com".
  12. ^ "Eliminalia: A Reputation Laundromat for Criminals".
  13. ^ "Home".
  14. ^ "Die Schweizer Lieblingsbank von Venezuelas Staatselite". 15 October 2019.
  15. ^ "A Swiss Bank Keeps Cropping Up in Venezuelan Corruption Cases". Bloomberg.com. 15 October 2019 – via www.bloomberg.com.
  16. ^ Weaver, Jay (20 February 2020). "Huge U.S. money-laundering probe targets widening circle of Venezuelan elites". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  17. ^ "More Swiss banks slammed for Venezuela business". 6 December 2021.
  18. ^ "Money laundering: FINMA concludes final proceedings connected with Venezuela".
  19. ^ "Enforcement-Bericht 2021: Das Best-of der Finma-Verfahren".
  20. ^ GIL, DANIEL (19 November 2021). "Swiss regulator censures two banks over Venezuela bribery affair". citywire.com. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  21. ^ "Zahnlose Bankenaufsicht – Trotz diverser Geldwäscherei-Rügen – eine Bank machte einfach weiter". 29 December 2021.
  22. ^ "Mutmassliche Geldwäsche – Verdächtige Gelder aus Kasachstan flossen über die Schweiz". 7 August 2021.
  23. ^ "Suspicious Funds from Kazakhstan flow via Switzerland". 9 August 2021.
  24. ^ "Mutmassliche Geldwäsche – Verdächtige Gelder aus Kasachstan flossen über die Schweiz". 7 August 2021.
  25. ^ "Mutmassliche Geldwäsche – Verdächtige Gelder aus Kasachstan flossen über die Schweiz". 7 August 2021.
  26. ^ "Investitionen in Millionenhöhe – Wie Gelder der kasachischen Präsidententochter in die Schweiz geflossen sind". 6 April 2022.
  27. ^ "Offshore cash of Aliya Nazarbayeva for $312 million - Ruscrime". 11 January 2022.
  28. ^ Sawer, Patrick; Mendick, Robert (8 January 2022). "Kazakh despot's daughter went on London spending spree after moving $300m out of country". The Telegraph.
  29. ^ "Fall Homm: Bundesanwaltschaft ermittelt gegen Zürcher Bankchef". Tages-Anzeiger.
  30. ^ https://www.torial.com/christian.broennimann/contents/288801
  31. ^ "La banque genevoise CBH épinglée pour une fraude aux Bahamas". 25 May 2022.
  32. ^ "Fraudsters plunder $2m through bank's blunder".
  33. ^ "Correction: Venezuela-Gold Ingots story". washingtonpost. 3 August 2020.
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