BCGE to open a representative office in Hong Kong

Geneva – 3rd November 2009 –

BCGE has received authorisation from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to set up a representative office in Hong Kong.
The entity’s mission will be to represent the bank in conducting its business in the Asia-Pacific region. It will be responsible for developing its customer base and for promoting its various services for individuals, institutions and
companies. Both for BCGE and its clients, the office will facilitate access to the rapidly expanding Asian financial markets.

The representative office in Hong Kong will primarily facilitate relations with a clientele of private customers who are interested in wealth management services.

The institutional clientele will also be able use the office as an intermediary, linking directly with our asset management centre of excellence based in Switzerland.

As a branch of BCGE, the Hong Kong representative office will not conduct everyday banking business as all the accounts will be opened and managed within the parent company, in the strictest respect of current regulations.

“BCGE Hong Kong” will start business in November 2009 with five Asian members of staff under the management of Mr Michael Chan. This project is placed under the responsibility of Jean-Louis Platteau, member of the Executive Board, head of the
Private Banking Division.
For BCGE, this opening is very significant: it confirms the Bank’s ability and willingness to adapt to the very rapid changes in the world economy and its desire to support the growing numbers of its clients in Geneva and Switzerland who have
business and projects in the Asia-Pacific region. By so doing, BCGE is helping to raise the profile of Geneva as a financial centre in a dynamic Asian context.
For further information, do not hesitate to contact:
Nicolas de Saussure
Communication and Investor Relations Manager
Direct tel.: + 41 22 809 34 12
E-mail: nicolas.de.saussure@bcge.ch

BCGE: “made in Geneva” banking solutions
A universal bank since 1816, BCGE offers extremely competitive and high-quality banking services to private, business and institutional customers in Geneva and its surrounding area. BCGE proposes a diverse palette of services ranging from ordinary banking facilities, private banking and asset management, to pension schemes, mortgages, corporate and local authority lending. It runs a trading room and offers financial engineering, corporate finance and global commodity finance services. The bank has three branches specialising in private banking, in Zurich, Lausanne and Lugano. The BCGE group also includes an active subsidiary in Rhône-Alpes, the Banque Cantonale de Genève (France)2 in Lyon and Annecy. The Group employs 847 people (789 FTE). It is quoted on the SIX Swiss
Exchange, the Swiss stock exchange.