In a move that bucks the trend of Swiss banks recoiling from the US market, REYL & Cie has launched an office in the Lone Star state.

REYL Overseas, a subsidiary of the Swiss banking group REYL, has opened its second US office – in Dallas, TX. It will be managed by Oliver Hohermuth.

“By opening a second office in the US, and particularly in Texas, REYL Overseas aims to take advantage of the American economy and its talented entrepreneurs,” the firm, which is an RIA, said. “REYL Overseas thus strives to offer closer support to American entrepreneurs who want to extend their business affairs and banking relations internationally as well as foreign investors who want to establish or strengthen their business in the US.”

It added: “Texas has become an extremely cosmopolitan place during the past 20 years that is open for international business and is home to more than 350,000 millionaires. Also, the Texas economy by itself is the 12th largest in the world (GDP of USD 1.6 billion as of 2014).”

The creation of a second office suggests that while some Swiss firms have scaled back wealth management operations in the US, such as with Credit Suisse shifting business to Wells Fargo, REYL & Cie reckons it can make a success of business in the country. Another such bank seeing opportunities in US wealth and investment management is Zurich-listed Vontobel, for example. 

Established in 1973 in Geneva, REYL & Cie launched its first US office last year in Santa Barbara, CA. The firm provides wealth management, asset management, corporate and family governance, corporate advisory and structuring, and asset services.

Hohermuth started his career at the Swiss Union of Raiffeisenbanks before joining Credit Suisse Private Banking Switzerland. In 2009, he became an SEC-registered investment advisor and broker-dealer representative for Credit Suisse Private Advisors in Zurich and headed the firm’s brokerage desk for US clients. Between 2010 and 2015, he was an investment advisor at Vontobel Swiss Wealth Advisors and relocated to Dallas to run the firm’s first onshore office in the US.

In June last year REYL said it plans to expand internationally, including in the US and Asia, and boost its assets under management by 50-100 per cent over the next five years (see more here).