The early years of Pictet & Cie
| "Banque de Candolle Mallet & Cie" was founded on 23 July 1805. The name "Pictet & Cie" was adopted 120 years later. |
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Beginnings
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 When founded in 1805, "Banque de Candolle Mallet & Cie" was run by two partner-managers, Jacob-Michel François de Candolle and Jacques-Henry Mallet, and three limited partners, Jean-Louis Mallet, brother of the above, Paul Martin and Jean-Louis Falquet, who became a syndic after the Restoration. The small bank was located at Cour St-Pierre until 1819. |
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From trading in goods to asset advisory and management
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 According to its Memorandum of Association, the new Bank's purpose was "to trade in goods and articles of all types, collect annuities and undertake speculation in commodities". This status reflected the general nature of business conducted at the time by Genevan banks, which had all started out as traders in goods.Very early on, however, the Bank abandoned trading to concentrate on assisting clients in their financial and commercial business and advising them in the art of managing their wealth. Such activities were already being regarded as investment advice and foreign exchange trading. Geneva's bankers, successors to the gold merchants and money-changers of the Middle Ages, were experts in handling currency problems. At that time, each bank was allowed to issue its own bank-notes to avoid the costly and dangerous practice of physically moving "écus" and "louis d'or" from one place to another. |
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The emergence of stocks and risk diversification
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 In addition to being a currency broker, the Bank traded and managed portfolios of local and foreign bills of exchange and commercial papers. Like all banks of that period, it would buy and sell investment instruments, collect income due and arrange for its investment.Account-books and documents from the 1830s show the Bank already held a broad enough range of securities on its clients' behalf to ensure that risks were spread: sovereign bonds issued by foreign States, lottery tickets (which were all the rage), ordinary shares in local and foreign companies, and tontine annuities from Ireland, Orleans and Turin. In the 1850s, industrial development in Switzerland, Europe and the United States boosted investment opportunities. Portfolios started to include bonds from the North American railways, as well as shares in real estate, mining and insurance companies. |
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Early 20th century
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 From 1890 to World War I, the Bank expanded greatly. Within thirty years its staff increased from a dozen to over eighty.As investments became more and more international, two investment companies specialising in US and Mexican securities were founded in 1900 and 1910. Thanks to its business contacts in New York and in England, and also its reputation in Berne, the Bank was asked to negotiate three federal loans for the Swiss Confederation's account in the United States between 1915 and 1920. These loans amounted to USD 70 million, which was an enormous sum back then. The year 1925 saw yet another significant event: the Bank changed its name to "Pictet & Cie", the name under which it has been known since then. |
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