UAE's Swiss bank nears $1bn in assets - The National

If you want to keep your money safe you put it in a Swiss bank. If you want to keep your money really, really safe, you buy a Swiss bank.

That is what Aabar Investments did in April 2009 when it bought AIG Private Bank in Zurich. Renaming it Falcon Private Bank, it opened its Dubai representative office in 2008, with a second regional representative office opened in Abu Dhabi in April.

Falcon set a target of increasing UAE assets under management to US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) by the end of this year. It has almost hit that mark in just 18 months - the latest figure stands at $950 million. "We'll hit a billion by the end of the weekend," says Eduardo Leemann, the bank's dapper chief executive.

* username: rupertbu