The Swiss firm has widened its market reach in the Pacific Rim.

Switzerland-listed private bank and investment house Vontobel  has extended its wealth management offerings to the Australian market.

Starting from the beginning of June, Vontobel’s advisory services and individual investment solutions are open for Australia-domiciled clients, the Zurich-listed business said in a statement yesterday.

The new team is led by Bernhard Breiter, who joined Vontobel Private Banking in Zurich. He has spent 15 years at UBS serving the Australian market, including two years in its representative office in Sydney. (UBS in Australia has recently been spun off by the Swiss group into a separate entity via a management buyout, and renamed as Crestone.)

Breiter will report to Alex Fung, head of Vontobel Wealth Management Asia-Pacific, who is based in Hong Kong. 

Australia’s wealth management market has grown strongly, at a rate of around 5 per cent over the last four years, according to figures from Capgemini in its annual World Wealth Report.

As of 31 December 2015, Vontobel held SFr187 billion of client assets ($193.4 billion).