St Gallen, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Raffeisen cooperative banking group, Switzerland’s third largest bank, continues to attract new clients at a strong pace, the same rhythm as in 2008, CEO Pierin Vincenz, told Fribourg newspaper La Liberté in an interview. The bank in 2008 increased its funds under management by nearly 11 percent and gained 158,000 new clients, partly as a result of the legal and financial problems of Credit Suisse and UBS, the two largest banks, last year.

The Lake Geneva area, along with Zurich and Basel have seen the strongest growth for the eastern Switzerland-based group.

The bank’s clients have an average fortune of CHF44,000 but that amount is increasing, says Vincenz. The bank’s traditional strength is the usual one for cooperatives, mortgages, particularly for members, and of its 3.2 million clients 1.5m are members. The mortgage business is growing, he notes, but the pressure on prices is very high, with sharp competition among banks at the moment.

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