# CBH Bank: the family-owned Geneva bank with a Bahamian booking centre > CBH Bank — the family-owned Geneva bank with CHF 18.4bn and an S&P BBB/A-2 rating: four booking centres (Switzerland, Bahamas, Hong Kong, London), thresholds, the FINMA Venezuela proceeding and deposit protection. Last modified: 2026-10-19T00:00:00.000Z Canonical: https://wiki.private.law/en/cbh-bank Publisher: wiki.private.law (https://wiki.private.law) Version: ec825b9628ccec68901b63691a22687ff28522805bf1ba544fcf4fa7276495d1 Cite as: CBH Bank: the family-owned Geneva bank with a Bahamian booking centre. wiki.private.law. https://wiki.private.law/en/cbh-bank. Version ec825b9628ccec68901b63691a22687ff28522805bf1ba544fcf4fa7276495d1. Topics: banking Jurisdictions: switzerland, bahamas, hong-kong, uk, israel, brazil Functional tags: private-banking Product tags: bank, wealth-planning, investment, custody, lombard-credit, family-office Semantic tags: private-banking, bank, wealth-planning, investment, custody, lombard-credit, family-office --- ## Concept **CBH Bank** (Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique SA) is a Geneva private bank with a strong external-asset-manager line and a client base across Latin America, Israel and Asia. **Type**: family-owned and unlisted — the holding CBH Holding SA, with the Benhamou family at 84% (per S&P, 2022); the bank has carried an [S&P BBB/A-2 rating](https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/regulatory/article/-/view/type/HTML/id/2967060) since 2023. Founded in 1975 as a brokerage; banking licence since 1991. The group CEO since October 2024 is [Simon Benhamou](https://cbhbank.com/en/media-releases-and-corporate-news/cbh-compagnie-bancaire-helvetique-appoints-new-ceo/). ## History and evolution 1975 — founded in Geneva (Stock and Commodity Services); 1991 — banking licence (Banque SCS Alliance); 1995 — a banking and trust licence in the Bahamas; 2002 — a Zurich branch via the PG Partner Bank acquisition. In 2009 the Benhamou family took majority control and renamed the bank CBH. Growth through client books: in 2014 a [major part of Banque Privée Espírito Santo's clientele](https://cbhbank.com/wp-content/uploads/CBH-BPES-Media-Release-EN-22.07.2014.pdf) after the ESFG collapse; in 2015 Hong Kong's TTG (now CBH Asia); in 2016 the private banking book of FIBI Bank (Switzerland); in 2018 Schroders' Eastern-European private banking book; in 2018–19 the 1618 Investimentos units in Brazil. In 2020 the bank took a 30% stake in digital bank FlowBank and [sold it in March 2022](https://www.finma.ch/en/news/2024/06/20240613-mm-flowbank/) — two years before FlowBank's FINMA-ordered bankruptcy. In 2023 it bought 16% of real-estate investor Stoneweg; in 2025 it marked its 50th anniversary. Assets under management reached [CHF 18.4bn at end-2025 (+13%)](https://cbhbank.com/en/media-releases-and-corporate-news/results-2025/) on record net new money of ~CHF 2bn; the Tier 1 ratio is 35.8% with 360 staff. > 🍓 Deposits at the Swiss bank are covered by [esisuisse — up to CHF 100,000 per client](https://cbhbank.com/en/ch/deposit-insurance/); custody securities are segregated. CBH Bahamas Ltd is a bank licensed by the Central Bank of The Bahamas; no public deposit-insurance scheme exists there. The London, Hong Kong and Brazil entities take no deposits. ## Regulation - **FINMA** — CBH Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique SA (Geneva; a Zurich branch, a St. Moritz representative office); - **Central Bank of The Bahamas and the Securities Commission** — CBH Bahamas Ltd (Nassau, since 1995); - **FCA** — CBH Europe Ltd (London, investment management); - **SFC** — CBH Asia Ltd (Hong Kong); - **CVM** — 1618 Investimentos (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo); - **CSSF** — the 1618 Luxembourg SICAV fund family (since 1993). ## Source of funds and compliance Onboarding involves a personal meeting, typically one trip to Switzerland; a full [source-of-funds and source-of-wealth](https://wiki.private.law/source-of-funds) file plus CRS/FATCA. Dated proceeding: on 18 November 2021 [FINMA closed its Venezuela enforcement](https://www.finma.ch/en/news/2021/11/20211118-mm-zarattini/): it found AML breaches in 2012–2020 (a "serious infringement of supervisory law"), ordered the bank to terminate remaining Venezuelan relationships and review other especially risky ones; no financial sanction was imposed. For clients this means demanding entry compliance. > 💡 Prepare the source-of-wealth file in advance: sale of a business, dividends, inheritance, tax status. The review mechanics are covered in the guide on [documenting source of funds](https://wiki.private.law/source-of-funds). ## Who it serves - **HNW clients**: no official minimum is published; industry references cite entry from CHF 1m with a mandatory personal meeting (unofficial); - **non-residents** from Latin America, Israel, Asia and Eastern Europe — the historic specialisation; - [**external asset managers**](https://wiki.private.law/eam-external-asset-manager) — a custody business across four booking centres; - families needing family-office coverage and structuring. ## Services ### Wealth management - discretionary and advisory management on an open architecture; - the proprietary 1618 fund family (Luxembourg SICAV); - a trading desk covering equities, bonds, FX and structured products. ### Lending - [lombard loans](https://wiki.private.law/lombard-lending), fully collateralised L/Cs and guarantees; - real-estate, yacht and aircraft financing. ### Private markets - private-markets expertise; the 16% stake in developer Stoneweg (2023) as a bridge to real-estate deals. ### Everyday banking - card issuing (Visa principal member; the first Swiss metal Visa Infinite, 2021); - family office, asset structuring, custody for financial intermediaries. ## Entities and booking centres Ten offices and four booking centres: Switzerland, the Bahamas, Hong Kong, the UK. | Jurisdiction | Legal entity | Format and supervisor | Role for the client | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Switzerland | CBH Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique SA | bank, FINMA; Geneva, Zurich, St. Moritz | main booking centre | | Bahamas | CBH Bahamas Ltd, Nassau | bank and trust, CBB/SCB | booking centre for the Americas | | UK | CBH Europe Ltd, London | manager, FCA (since 2012) | booking centre and management | | Hong Kong | CBH Asia Ltd | SFC (formerly TTG, since 2015) | Asia booking centre | | Israel | representative office, Tel Aviv | since 2010 | local coverage | | Brazil | 1618 Investimentos (Rio, São Paulo) | CVM | local asset management | There is no Singapore or Dubai presence; the bank never entered the US (the 2018 Brickell Bank deal did not complete). ## Strengths - one of the few mid-size Swiss banks with a public S&P rating (BBB/A-2); - four booking centres, including a rare Bahamian one; - high capitalisation: a Tier 1 ratio of 35.8%; - live card and payment functionality alongside wealth management. ## Where it does not fit - clients needing booking in Singapore, Dubai or Luxembourg — none exist; - those sensitive to the supervisory record: the FINMA Venezuela proceeding ended with an order in 2021; - fortunes below ~CHF 1m (the unofficial benchmark); - US persons — the bank has no American platform. CBH is a mid-size Geneva house with an unusually wide booking map for its size (Geneva, Nassau, London, Hong Kong) and a strong external-manager niche; the Venezuela supervisory history is closed with an order and is part of the public profile. ## Q/A ### Entry and geography ### What minimum capital does CBH require? No official minimum is published. Industry references cite entry from CHF 1 million with a mandatory personal meeting; for non-residents the practice is one trip to Switzerland and a full source-of-wealth file. ### What does the Bahamian booking offer? CBH Bahamas Ltd is a bank and trust company licensed by the Central Bank of The Bahamas and the Securities Commission since 1995. It is an alternative booking jurisdiction for clients from the Americas; note that the Bahamas has no public deposit-insurance scheme. ### What does the deposit guarantee cover? Switzerland — esisuisse CHF 100,000 per client; custody securities are segregated and returned to the owner. The Bahamas has no deposit insurance; the London, Hong Kong and Brazil entities take no deposits. ### Supervisory backdrop ### How did the FINMA Venezuela proceeding end? On 18 November 2021 FINMA found AML breaches in 2012–2020 and ordered the bank to terminate Venezuelan relationships and review other high-risk ones; no financial sanction was imposed. The bank stated it cooperated and completed remediation. ### Is it true the bank was a FlowBank shareholder? Yes: CBH held 30% of digital bank FlowBank from 2020 and sold the stake in March 2022 — two years before FINMA initiated FlowBank's bankruptcy in June 2024. No link between CBH's exit and FlowBank's later problems has been publicly established. --- ## Similar articles - [British Atlantic Bank (NodaBank): Accounts, Deposits and Lending](https://wiki.private.law/en/nodabank) - [BNP Paribas Wealth Management: the Eurozone's private bank from Paris to Singapore](https://wiki.private.law/en/bnp-paribas-wealth-management) - [Syz Group: the family-owned Geneva bank with a digital-assets line](https://wiki.private.law/en/syz-group) - [Bordier & Cie: the Geneva private banker with unlimited liability](https://wiki.private.law/en/bordier-cie) - [VP Bank: the listed Liechtenstein private bank](https://wiki.private.law/en/vp-bank) - [Itaú Private Bank: Latin America's first R$1 trillion franchise](https://wiki.private.law/en/itau-private-bank) --- Source: wiki.private.law — the private.law legal knowledge base. When quoting, cite the canonical page URL. Consultation with a lawyer: https://t.me/private_law_bot