A Powerful Network Of International Specialists At Octogone

Ivan Peruffo CEO Octogone

Winner

• Manager With International Offices Outside of Switzerland

Established in Geneva in 1995, the Octogone group provides high-level personalised services and rigorous, tailor-made asset management to families and institutions from Europe, US, Latin America and the Middle East.

Please explain, what you think makes your firm successful in its chosen field?

For nearly 30 years, Octogone has been building an international footprint, with offices in Geneva, Zurich, Miami, Nassau and Dubai (soon in Panama as well). This provides us access to certified local partners, as well as a global view on the financial markets.

Our network of international specialists, highly qualified and experienced professionals in wealth management, are chosen for their recognised competencies and complementary skills.

We can proudly say to be the first Swiss company elected to integrate in 2022 Focus Financial Partners Inc., a global partnership of independent wealth management and other financial services firms.

What have been the main obstacles you had to overcome and how did you do so to reach this level?

Due to the regulatory changes imposed by the FINMA, our profession is engaged in a long process of transformation that forces independent asset managers to evolve. However constraining it may be in certain aspects, this evolution is necessary if Switzerland wants to assert its competitiveness and maintain its world leadership in asset management.

To adapt to this new regulatory environment, we have made and are making investments in operations, compliance, risk and technology. I believe that tech investments will be essential to facilitate the task of asset managers in the areas of management, control and reporting. To be at the top, it is essential to have a solid organisation as well as state-of-the-art tools to facilitate the work of the teams.

What does success look like you - can this be measured in hard numbers, or in qualitative ways, or both?

The retention and satisfaction of our customers will always be one of the best indicators we have to evaluate the quality of our services. So is the satisfaction and loyalty of our employees, which are particularly important to us. We have a strong corporate culture and a human environment that make our employees stay with us for long. Two of the three founders are still involved in the management of Octogone, testimonials of our roots and history.

As for hard numbers, at the end of 2021, we had CHF 5 billion in assets under management. Today, due to the market downturn, they have fallen to CHF 4.5 billion. Our mission is to double our assets over the next three years.

How do awards such as this make a difference to your firm and your colleagues?

We are proud and honored to have named best 'Manager with International Offices outside of Switzerland'. Forging a single, uniform corporate culture with offices scattered around the world is a daily challenge. This award illustrates and rewards that work, which is the fruit of the efforts of all our teams during these last decades.

OUR DNA IS