The best private banks and wealth managers have been honing the art of succession planning for generations. That is certainly true of Lombard Odier. Having been around for 230 years, in 2025 it walks away with the prize for the world’s best for succession planning.
The Geneva-based institution is a global-facing wealth management institution able to look far into the future. It does not engage in corporate or retail banking. Its primary and over-riding purpose is to provide clients with world-class private banking services, spanning wealth management, wealth planning and investment solutions.
Succession planning, the firm says in its pitch, must be handled “holistically, with future generations fully included in the process”. This approach meshes its wealth planning skills with its proven abilities in asset management, plus a team of legal and tax experts.
The wealth manager, which oversees SFr327 billion ($366 billion) in assets and has offices in five continents, from Singapore to São Paulo and Pretoria to Paris, takes a four-stage approach to guiding clients through the succession planning process.