Company:Ethics and excellence
The creation of 1875 FINANCE arose from the shared experience of its founders in the same bank. It is based on an unshakeable team spirit that guarantees comprehensive consistency and shared responsibility in its strategic choices and advice to clients.
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Co-founder, Chairman of the Board
Olivier Bizon
Olivier Bizon began his career as a financial advisor for institutional clients with Paribas (Suisse) SA. From 1992 to 1995, he worked at Credit Suisse Private Banking as asset manager for private and business clients. He then moved back to Paribas (Suisse) SA in 1995 to head the private clients division in Switzerland, and served as a member of the Management and then as member of the Private Banking Executive Committee in 2000. In 2001, he moved to Ferrier Lullin & Cie SA as Managing Director. Six month later, he was appointed to the Executive Board, becoming Head of Private Banking for the bank as a whole. In 2005, he was part of the management team that sold three private banks and an asset management business (SBC Wealth Management AG) to Julius Baer.
In 2006, he left the bank to co-found 1875 FINANCE, where he served as Managing Partner and Vice-Chairman of the Board. In 2016, he was appointed Chairman of the Board.
VICE-PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Vice-Chairman & Secretary of the Board
Didier de Montmollin
After graduating as a lawyer in 1983, Didier de Montmollin undertook a traineeship in the US. He became a legal advisor to the Swiss Bankers Association in Basel. In 1986, he joined Geneva law firm Secretan Troyanov, of which he became an Associate in 1992.
In January 2011, together with three associates, he founded law firm DGE Avocats – Attorneys at Law – Rechtsanwälte (www.dgepartners.com)
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Member of the Board
François Reyl
François Reyl began his career in 1989 with Jones Day, initially in New York and then in Paris, as an attorney in the M&A Group. In 1995, he joined Credit Suisse First Boston in London, first in the M&A department and from 1998 as co-founder of the LBO Coverage Group. During this time, he executed numerous mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buy-outs as well as equity and debt capital markets transactions, as Managing Director from 2001. François Reyl joined REYL & Cie Ltd in 2002 as Partner and Head of Development. He became Chief Executive Officer in 2008. Under his stewardship, REYL & Cie Ltd has acquired an international presence and expanded into new lines of business including the launch of the RAM funds range and the development of Entrepreneur & Family Office Services, Corporate Finance and Asset Services. He also initiated REYL & Cie Ltd’s various social and philanthropic programmes, notably with the launch of the Research for Life foundation in 2014. He chairs the Executive Committee of REYL & Cie Ltd.
Member of the Board
David Bueche
David Bueche holds a Master in Business Administration from HEC Lausanne and is a Swiss Chartered Professional Accountant. He is also a member of several Board of Directors and Audit Committees of companies subject to the supervision of FINMA, with the role of independent Director.
He originally joined Arthur Andersen SA in 1986 as part of the « audit financial market » division, and was promoted to the Partnership in 1997. In 2002, he joined Baker Tilly Spiess SA (member of Baker Tilly International, the 8th worldwide largest auditing network of independent firms), as Partner for the financial market department, and works with a wide variety of Swiss and international clients (internal audit, financial expertise, consulting,…).
Member of the Board
Eric Sarasin
Eric Sarasin has 30 years of experience in banking at Morgan Stanley, Pictet & Cie, Citibank and of course Sarasin bank (now Bank J. Safra Sarasin).
At Sarasin, he held various management positions in different areas of activity and turned the previously family-run bank into one of Switzerland’s leading private banks, through to being appointed Deputy CEO of the Group.
Since 2019, he has been Chairman of the Board of Singularity Group SA and is on the Board of several other private companies and investment firms. He is also President of TIGER21 Zurich —an association for highly-qualified entrepreneurs, CEOs and investors worldwide, with 700 members.
During his career, Eric has held various public, non-private and cultural leadership positions, including 12 years as President of the German-Swiss Chamber of Commerce, five years as Treasurer of WWF International and is a member of the Executive Board as Treasurer of the Ligue contre le cancer in Basel, the Swiss Peace Foundation, the Paul Josef Jenni Foundation, the Maurice E. Muller Foundation, the Race for Water Foundation, as well as a manager and participant in NGOs, including Human Rights Watch.
Member of the Board
Pasha Bakhtiar
Pasha Bakhtiar began his career in 1998 with Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch in Geneva before moving to Dubai in 2004 to participate in the launch of LODH’s operations in the UAE. In 2010, he was one of the early movers in the impact investing space by founding Willow Impact Investors, a private equity fund focusing on East Africa. After a successful exit, Pasha Bakhtiar took on the role of Chief Executive Officer of ES Bankers Dubai Ltd. He joined REYL & Cie in 2015 as co-founder and CEO of REYL Finance (MEA) Ltd in Dubai to develop the Group’s activities prior to moving back to Geneva. He became a Partner in 2018 and a Member of the Executive Committee of REYL & Cie Ltd in 2023.