Page 25 - DIVA_4_2006_No.27

Interview with Ivan Pictet,

Senior Managing Partner, Pictet and Cie,
A Private Bank in Geneva

i S'
it

He is the eighth gene- Q: So, Mr. Pictet, who are key econotnic players in ral more years President of
ration of a well-known you? Geneva. tlie Foruidation for Geneva;
banking family whose and now President of the
roots go back to fif- I'm a private banker from a Q: You are involved in Geneva Financial Centre.
teenth century fan'iily profoundly ancho- both the Geneva All three functions have the
Geneva. His name is red in Geneva for more Financial Centre and the coininon objective of get-
well-known in the inter- than 500 years. I'm the Foundation for Geneva. ting the message across
national community - senior managing parhier; What are reasons behind about tl'ie huge potential of
both for having chaired whicl'i iinplies that I am at this? this small town-Geneva -
the Foundation for tlie head of a pi'ivate banlc - wlffcli is not taken enougli
Geneva and the cai'rying my name and It is a tradition in Geneva advantage of, in my
Geneva Financial wlffch celebrated its 200tli that people wear different OplnlOll
Centre, and lately in aniffversaiy last year. liats. Several are involved
supporting the semi- in politics, for instance, Q: In order to "exploit
nar on micro-credit I am proud of being the wlffch lias notlffig to do Geneva to its maximum",
hosted by Geneva in eightli generation cai'iyiiig witli tlieir professional what ts needed?
2005 during the cele- on tliis tradition. Today, lives. Some are coi'icei'ned
brations for the sixtieth Pictet & Cie liappens to be with the inilitary. So my First of all, since we are
anniversary of the tlie biggest pi'ivate bank iix extra-professional activity - liying iii a quasi-direct
United Nations. Like Switzerland. It is a speciali- - if yori caii call it that - democracy, sucli as tlie one
any banker he is disc- zed bank; in fact the largest consists of promoting existing in Switzerland, I
rete, but kindly accep- European independent Geneva. First, I was for tliink we liave ii'i a ceitaiii
ted to meet with us asset manager, botli iiistitu- several years President of way "to explain Geneva" to
despite his busy sche- tional and pi'ivate, it biings tlie Cliamber of Coininerce the citizens of Geneva,
dule. me to be seen as one of the and hidushy; then for seve- since tliey are tlie ones wlio