WE UNDERSTAND SWISS
PRIVATE BANKS

With Strategize to Grow, Horn & Company offers a modular strategy process tailored to the specific starting point and ambition of a private bank. Depending on the need, we combine relevant strategy modules – from market and competitor analysis to client segmentation, value proposition and business model, as well as operating model, cost base and financial ambition.

Our approach creates clarity, prioritization and implementation readiness. Together with our clients, we develop a robust target picture, derive concrete strategic initiatives and translate them into roadmaps, responsibilities, steering logic and measurable outcomes. This turns strategy into a pragmatic action framework for profitable growth in Swiss private banking.

Find out more about H&C Strategy Process [Page in German]

A future-proof operating model is the foundation for profitable growth, high service quality and efficient delivery. We support private banks in developing lean organisational structures, clear roles and responsibilities, and scalable processes along the entire value chain.

In doing so, we ensure that structure and steering are aligned with the bank's strategic ambition – whether the focus is growth in selected markets, sharpening market management, simplifying management structures, adapting to regulatory requirements or building new units. Our focus is on client centricity, efficiency, clear governance and an organisation that enables collaboration across front office, investment, operations, risk and compliance.

Transformations in private banking are only successful when strategic ambition, operational execution and cultural anchoring work together consistently. We support banks in complex change programmes, post-merger integrations, carve-outs, platform migrations and governance adjustments.

Our approach combines a clear transformation architecture with pragmatic implementation: robust roadmaps, effective steering, transparent KPIs, active stakeholder management and a consistent focus on value contribution. Especially in the Swiss market, where consolidation and structural adjustments continue to gain importance, we help private banks realise synergies, reduce complexity and at the same time ensure service continuity for clients.

The effectiveness of the front office determines growth, client retention and differentiation. We support private banks in systematically enabling relationship managers, professionalising sales models and aligning performance management more strongly with long-term client value.

This includes modern target-setting and incentive systems, clear role profiles, sales management models, RM dashboards, structured coaching and training formats, as well as the integration of digital tools into day-to-day advisory work. Our goal is a front organisation that addresses client segments precisely, promotes cross-team collaboration, retains talent and makes commercial impact transparent - without losing the personal advisory quality that distinguishes Swiss private banks.

Intergenerational wealth transfer is one of the greatest strategic opportunities – and risks – for private banks. The decisive factor is to extend existing client relationships early to families, heirs, entrepreneurs and next-generation clients – while making transfer risks within the client base transparent and actively steerable.

Together with private banks, we develop holistic next-generation and wealth transfer strategies that go beyond traditional succession planning. These include segmentation by life stage and needs, family governance formats, educational offerings, intergenerational client dialogues, digital engagement models, as well as ESG, impact and philanthropy offerings. In addition, we create transparency on transfer exposure, heir visibility and retention risks, translating these insights into concrete steering mechanisms and RM actions. In this way, banks strengthen their relevance across generations and reduce the risk of asset outflows during succession events.

Artificial intelligence offers significant potential for private banks – from more efficient processes and more precise client segmentation to data-driven sales impulses, compliance support and personalized advice. However, added value only emerges when use cases are strategically prioritized, properly governed and responsibly implemented.

We support banks in developing an AI strategy, identifying and prioritizing relevant use cases, and defining the operating model, data governance, implementation planning and change management. In doing so, we combine business impact with regulatory robustness, transparency and organizational acceptance. Our focus is on scalable AI applications that noticeably improve front office, operations, risk, compliance and management steering.

Pressure on profitability and cost-income ratios remains high for many private banks. Sustainable efficiency, however, is not created through blanket cost cutting, but through a holistic understanding of value creation, complexity, steering and scalability.

We analyse cost structures, process landscapes, organisational models, product and service complexity, and steering mechanisms. Based on this, we develop measures to increase efficiency, simplify structures and reduce costs sustainably - without compromising the client experience or regulatory stability. Our approach combines short-term achievable effects with long-term organisational resilience and creates transparency on where costs truly create value.

The CFO function continues to gain strategic importance in private banking. In addition to traditional financial steering, the focus today is on profitability, capital and liquidity steering, cost management, regulatory reporting, data quality, performance management and strategic decision support.

We support CFO organisations in sharpening steering models, creating transparency on value drivers and setting up finance processes more efficiently. This includes management reporting, planning and forecasting models, profitability analyses by segments, markets and client clusters, as well as linking financial and operational steering. This makes the CFO agenda a central lever for better decisions, higher efficiency and sustainable value creation

In private banking, sustainability has long been more than a regulatory topic. It influences client expectations, product offering, advice, risk management and reputation. At the same time, requirements are increasing around transparency, reporting and the integration of climate and nature-related risks.

We support private banks in defining their sustainability ambition, integrating ESG into advisory processes, product and offering logic, client dialogue, portfolio reporting, as well as risk and regulatory steering. A particular focus lies on front-office enablement: relationship managers must be able to address sustainability credibly, in a client-specific and understandable way. This turns sustainability from a mandatory topic into a strategic differentiator.