Quintet Private Bank is a medium-sized Luxembourg-headquartered bank and wealth manager. It was founded in 1949 by Belgium's Kredietbank as Kredietbank Luxembourg (KBL), later rebranded KBL European Private Bankers or KBL ebp, and to its present name in 2020. Since 2011, it has been owned by members of the Al-Thani family of

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

through the holding Precision Capital. It has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of

European Banking Supervision European Banking Supervision, also known as the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), is the policy framework for the prudential supervision of banks in the euro area. It is centered on the European Central Bank (ECB), whose supervisory arm is re ...

in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

History

On May 23, 1949, the Brussels-headquartered Kredietbank registered Kredietbank Luxembourg (KBL) as a bank in the Grand Duchy. KBL opened its doors a few months later. In the early days, it had only five employees on its payroll, including the CEO, Constant Franssens. In 1979, the majority of KBL's equity was transferred from Kredietbank to its parent holding company Almanij. In 1996, KBL absorbed . In 1998, Kredietbank merged with other financial institutions to form KBC Group, which in turn merged with Almanij in 2005, thus retaking control of KBL. In October 2011, following conditions set by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

to approve financial support KBC had received from the Flemish authorities in Belgium, KBL was sold to Luxembourg-incorporated holding company Precision Capital, reported to be owned by former Prime Minister of Qatar

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber bin Mohammed bin Thani Al Thani (Arabic: ; born 1959), also known informally by his initials HBJ, is a Qatari politician. He was the Prime Minister of Qatar from 3 April 2007 to 26 June 2013, and foreign minister from ...

. In 2013, Precision Capital also acquired majority control of Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL) from

Dexia Dexia N.V./S.A., or the Dexia Group, is a Franco-Belgian financial institution formed in 1996. At its peak in 2010, it had about 35,200 members of staff and a core shareholders' equity of €19.2 billion. In 2008, the bank entered severe ...

, but in 2017 sold BIL to Chinese investment company Legend Holdings. In January 2020, KBL epb was renamed Quintet Private Bank.

Business overview

Quintet Private Bank is headquartered in Luxembourg with a presence in 35 cities across Europe and the UK. As of end 2023, the company counted 1,701 employees (FTE) and €92 billion in total client assets. It is owned by Precision Capital, a Luxembourg-based bank holding company controlled by members of the

Al Thani The House of Thani () is the ruling family of Qatar, with origins tracing back to the Adnanites, Adnanite Banu Tamim tribe. Today Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his mother Moza bint Nasser, Moza bint Nassir lead the house. History and structure ...

family of

. Quintet provides wealth management and additional investment services through its

Financial Intermediaries A financial intermediary is an institution or individual that serves as a "Intermediary, middleman" among diverse parties in order to facilitate financial transactions. Common types include commercial banks, investment banks, stockbrokers, insura ...

and Asset Servicing business lines. Quintet has

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

in European countries: Puilaetco in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, Merck Finck Privatbankiers in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, Quintet Luxembourg in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, InsingerGIlissen in

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Brown Shipley Brown Shipley is a member of Quintet Private Bank. It is headquartered in London's Moorgate, behind the Bank of England. Brown Shipley offers wealth planning, investment management and lending services for private, corporate and institutional cl ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In 2020, Quintet opened for business in Denmark. Quintet's Financial Intermediaries business line provides a range of services for external asset managers and multi-family offices. These include custody and execution services as well as access to CIO research, lending, private markets investments and structured products. Quintet's Financial Intermediaries business line operates in the UK, Luxembourg, Belgium and Netherlands. Quintet's Asset Servicing business line provides a range of services for asset managers, insurance companies and banks. These include: fund services for institutional and private investors and for independent asset managers; custody services, trading and lending facilities. As an independent depository, Quintet maintains an open-architecture platform that is connected to a high number of external fund administrators and management companies in Luxembourg.

Controversy

One of KBL's (and Kredietbank's) main shareholders in the postwar period, André Vlerick, was actively involved in public advocacy of the

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

-promoting regime of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and support of its circumvention of sanctions. In April 2018, NGO

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, including a revolving door database which documents the individuals who have worked in both the public sector an ...

, in partnership with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) at the

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

, filed a complaint at the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

, claiming that KBC and KBL had violated the Organization's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises in their dealings with South Africa between 1977 and 1994. According to the complaint, KBC and KBL together "were responsible for facilitating up to 70% of all illegal arms transactions that allowed the apartheid government to secretly buy weapons despite mandatory UN arms sanctions." As part of that process, OpenSecrets and CALS submitted a detailed document to the OECD contact points in Belgium and Luxembourg to support their claim. At the same time, hearings were held on the matter at South Africa's People's Tribunal on Economic Crime led by Zak Yacoob in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

References

{{Authority control Banks of Luxembourg Banks established in 1949 1949 establishments in Luxembourg Companies based in Luxembourg City Banks under direct supervision of the European Central Bank