2023-07-14 16:07:44
Will the famous banking district at rue du Rhône in Geneva soon be ancient history? Several private banking institutions have recently announced that they will leave the city for the next few years. These departures raise fears of an exodus and raise questions regarding the attractiveness of Geneva.
Next year, at least three major banks will leave the city of Calvin. If the departure of the head office of the Lombard Odier bank in Bellevue (GE) in 2024 has been known for a long time, the recent announcements of moves by BNP Paribas and Edmond de Rotschild to peripheral municipalities, such as Vernier and Lancy, raise questions.
Critics on the right
Several right-wing personalities have sharply criticized the City’s policy in this area, whose executive and legislative branches are mostly on the left politically. In reaction to these departures, the Geneva promoter Stéphane Barbier-Müller recently accused the “delusions sores” and “hostility” towards the banks of the Geneva authorities. The president of the PLR City of Geneva Kevin Schmid sees it as a bad signal for the attractiveness of the capital and is worried regarding tax revenues.
The city authorities partly share these questions, because these companies were big contributors in terms of taxes for the city.
But it is above all the loss of some 3000 employees working on the territory of the city and often well paid which is likely to burden the tax revenues of natural persons. However, it is not yet possible to know the exact effects.
A question of opportunities, according to the mayor
The mayor of Geneva, Alfonso Gomez, however, sweeps away the idea of a general exodus and excessively high taxes in the city of Calvin. “Fiscally speaking, it is not at all interesting for these banks, because the municipalities of Vernier and Lancy know additional cents higher than Geneva”, he estimates Friday in the 12:30.
According to the Green, in charge of the finances of the City, it is rather a question of opportunity. “They leave for new districts, with buildings available, certified ecological buildings, efficient and dense public transport. These moves do not imply a desire to flee the city”, he explains once more.
For Alfonso Gomez, this proves that these companies are not leaving the city because of “delusions of sores or environmentalists, since they are heading straight for neighborhoods that meet the latest ecological standards”. The elected official counts in particular on the construction of new districts, like the PAV (Praille-Accacias-Vernets) to offer public facilities capable of attracting large-scale companies.
However, the number of companies present on the territory of the City of Geneva decreased between 2019 and 2020, the last year for which statistics are available. They went from 23,176 to 22,961 in this time frame. This drop can perhaps be explained by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the City of Geneva.
The authorities nevertheless claim to have succeeded in attracting large companies in the recent past, such as Bank of China or Japan Tobacco International.
Mohamed Musadak/jfe
1689356778
#Geneva #departure #large #banks #worries #rts.ch
