On the occasion of Pictet Luxembourg's 35th anniversary, we have the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Mario Pirola, its CEO. He shares his vision on the evolution of the Luxembourg financial center, the challenges and opportunities ahead, and the Group's commitment to the local community. Find out how Pictet, a historic player, is adapting to new market expectations.
Pictet Luxembourg is celebrating its 35th anniversary. How do you view the development of the Luxembourg marketplace, and in particular its competitiveness?
Luxembourg has experienced impressive economic development since 1989, the year Pictet was established in the Grand Duchy. The success of the Luxembourg financial centre has contributed to Pictet's success. The two stories are intimately linked: the country's international vocation, stability and entrepreneurial spirit are founding characteristics of our company. Today, the competitiveness of European financial centers is stronger than ever. It's encouraging to see Luxembourg deploying innovative strategies to continue attracting international investors and banking institutions like ours.
You speak of Pictet Luxembourg as a "macrocosm" of the Group. How do you ensure that you maintain this synergy while adapting to local and European specificities?
The complementary nature of our business lines, products and services represents, in my view, a decisive asset. It demonstrates our Group's commitment to Europe and our willingness to adapt to local specificities, because they also represent the specificities of our customers. Pictet Luxembourg today stands out in many rankings thanks to the diversity of its activities and the excellence of its expertise, an uncommon combination.
As Pictet's first establishment outside Switzerland (in terms of number of employees), what opportunities and challenges has this brought in your approach to wealth management and asset servicing?
The opportunities are many: access to the European market thanks to our presence in several countries and the Free Provision of Investment Advisory Services. Today, Luxembourg is an essential platform for asset servicing. And let's not forget the distribution of investment funds, thanks to the EU passport for our Asset Management division. Europe gives us the opportunity to leverage our historical skills in these businesses on a large scale and apply them in a complex and diversified environment, helping us to grow and offer our institutional and private clients ever more sophisticated solutions. Challenges include the complexity of the regulatory environment in Europe, and the variety of jurisdictions with non-harmonized legal and tax frameworks, requiring well-developed local knowledge. Success lies in our ability to transform these challenges into opportunities for the Group.
With over 850 employees and a strong local commitment, how does the company contribute to the Luxembourg ecosystem outside its financial activities?
This is a subject that fascinates me as CEO. In my eyes, our success in Luxembourg must lead us to commit ourselves to the local community. Pictet Luxembourg acts discreetly with sponsorship commitments to support cultural and artistic activities, as well as in the world of volunteering. This commitment may be financial, but it's not the only one. Thus, many employees participate in these activities and donate their time or expertise.
How do you see the future of Pictet Luxembourg, a historic player and therefore seen as traditional, in the context of the intergenerational transfer of wealth and new customer expectations?
We think and act like a 220-year-old start-up. Let me give you a few examples: Pictet Technologies, which was set up in 2016 in Luxembourg and today has 150 employees specializing in high-level IT engineering. The Pictet Research Institute is another example, launched at the beginning of the year, its mission is to focus on research into topics with long-term implications for investment. On the asset management side, we now offer Pictet Quest, an optimized index strategy that draws on the power and efficiency of artificial intelligence for stock selection. Finally, we recently developed One Chat, a chatbot for internal use to support our employees in their business.
This post was translated from the original French.