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Édouard de Saint Pierre – “The new generations want to have a better understanding of their investments”
Article published in Citywire France on 12 November 2025
In this series, Citywire France meets the heads of wealth management businesses to find out what sets them apart from their competitors, discover their ambitions for the future, and explore their outlook for the industry. In this edition, Citywire meets the Managing Director of Lombard Odier in France, Édouard de Saint Pierre, as he shares his insights and vision for the future of wealth management.
Could you tell us about an initiative your firm has run that is close to your heart?
It is essential to ensure that our front office teams are just as diverse as our clients. By that I mean diversity in gender, origin, and backstory.
Do you have a particular approach to the new generations in your teams and amongst your clients?
Lombard Odier has flourished for almost 230 years by being unconditionally dedicated to its investment expertise, independence, and values, and by constantly questioning what it does to ensure it meets the ever-changing needs of each new generation.
The new generations want to have a better understanding of their investments. They are keen to be more involved and more active
We operate on three levels. First, with our existing families and clients, we have developed a programme focused on getting the NextGen community engaged. The new generation often wants to meet its peers. We encourage and facilitate networking, so they can build up connections, share their concerns, experiences, and ideas, and even create business opportunities.
We have developed a programme to train up the NextGen community. The new generations also want to have a better understanding of their investments. They are keen to be more involved, more active. For clients who are starting out in wealth management we offer personalised training with support from internal analysts who are specialists in macroeconomics, investment, and sustainability. We also bring in external people if necessary.
Second, we are active with young entrepreneurs and prospects. Eight years ago we set up a partnership with France Digitale (the biggest association of start-ups and VC firms in Europe); this helps us to interact with the new generation of entrepreneurs so we can understand their needs better and support them in matters like preparing for cash events and managing their personal wealth.
Finally, we have established internal initiatives. We set particular store by training up young talent. In this regard, we are working to bring on the next generation of bankers and have set up an Associate Programme to train them through contact with the front office and investment teams, and integrate them into the culture of our firm.
We always aim to maintain an evolving and multigenerational presence at the top of the firm so we can ensure strategic continuity over time. For us, it’s not just about producing innovative and high-performing investment strategies, we also want to offer succinct and relevant reports on the real impact of investments and business models
We are continuing the handover within our group of Managing Partners, and January will see the arrival of a representative of the next generation: Xavier Bonna. We always aim to maintain an evolving and multigenerational presence at the top of the firm so we can ensure strategic continuity over time.
It’s not a cast-iron rule, but we have noticed that the new generation is more concerned about the planet and the environment, and the majority want to invest sustainably. For us, it’s not just about producing innovative and high-performing investment strategies, we also want to offer succinct and relevant reports on the real impact of investments and business models.
We are investing steadily in digitalising our communication channels and tools to fulfil the new generation’s desire for interaction with their bank and bankers, to meet the security challenges, and respond to the emergence of new technologies like AI.
What have you done at Lombard Odier as part of your ESG policy?
B Corp™ certification marked an important step for the bank. In March 2019, Lombard Odier became the first global wealth and asset manager to obtain the prestigious B Corp certification, with an impact score of 98 points. In 2023, our certification was reaffirmed by B Lab (the non-profit organisation responsible for B Corp™ certification). At the end of the recertification process, we had improved our overall score from 98 points to 111.
Since our initial certification we have integrated the results of our B Impact evaluation into our sustainability strategy and taken action to obtain tangible results in the five B Corp™ areas of impact: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.
Also, in 2023, Lombard Odier became the first bank to appoint a Chief Nature Officer: Dr Marc Palahi. This reflects the Group’s wish to deepen its expertise and abilities in sustainability by recruiting sector-leading talent. A Chief Nature Officer plays a key role in designing investment funds that can mobilise capital for nature-based solutions and sustainable practices and that can be profitable while restoring biodiversity.
What strategy have you put in place for working with multi-family offices and IAMs1?
Working with FIMs (financial investment advisors) is an integral part of our business model. We have had a team entirely dedicated to them for nearly ten years now.
As part of developing our firm’s activities in France we wanted to form partnerships with the family offices that turn to us for our investment expertise and bespoke support.
What would you say is special about your Firm?
We have been an investment firm for almost 230 years, and today we have three complementary lines of business: wealth management, asset management, and technology expertise that has allowed us to develop a proprietary platform that we offer to ten or so banks in Europe.
Our governance is also a distinguishing feature, as Lombard Odier is a family business (now in the seventh generation). Lombard Odier is structured as an independent partnership, owned solely by its Managing Partners. They take all decisions on a unanimous basis. This governance model enables us to focus – right at the very top of the organisation – entirely on the interests of clients.
We hold EUR 349 billion of client assets2, which gives us sufficient scale to invest in our expertise and have “firepower”, but still lets us offer our clients personalised support. And our stable business model and independence have helped us overcome more than 40 crises throughout our history. Lombard Odier has a strong balance sheet, with a CET1 ratio of 32% and a Fitch rating of AA-. This makes us one of the most robust in the sector.
Our teams are at the heart of how we operate. We aim to create an environment in which personal development as well as collaboration are encouraged, to help us achieve our objectives. We aim to provide a framework in which our teams can find inspiration, constantly challenge the status quo, and flourish in a positive and dynamic context, based on trust and transparency. In France, most of our bankers have been with us for 10 or even 15 years.
Our international outlook is also an asset. Our heritage is Swiss, but our vision and approach are resolutely international. Our management is diversified and exposed to the major world markets, our clients have a global footprint, and we have the expertise needed to assist them with a multi-jurisdictional approach. Lombard Odier is present in more than 25 countries.
Finally, there is the Fondation Philanthropia: this is an umbrella foundation that provides a framework and facilitates philanthropic activities by Lombard Odier Group clients. It was awarded the prestigious “Grand Mécène de la Culture Française” (Great Patron of French Culture) for the restoration of three iconic monuments at the Palace of Versailles – the Latona Fountain, the Grand Trianon, and the Royal Chapel.
We have entered into a highly significant decade that will see the biggest ever transfer of wealth to the next generation. Lombard Odier is going to play a key part in supporting clients in their succession plans
What are the major challenges private banks will have to deal with five years from now?
In an increasingly fragmented and volatile world the role of private banks and their long-term vision have never been so crucial or complex, especially in the areas of succession, sustainability, and technology.
We have entered into a highly significant decade that will see the biggest ever transfer of wealth – an estimated USD 31 trillion will pass to the next generation.3 Lombard Odier is going to play a key part in supporting clients in their succession plans.
When it comes to sustainability, our industry has to continue to meet the demand for sustainable investments, especially to meet our fiduciary obligations and the expectations of the next generations, for whom environmental causes have never gone away, and represent both high risk and enormous opportunities in their portfolios. This trend looks set to grow as the next generation inherits wealth and takes over family businesses.
Lastly, incorporating new technologies is going to be essential – artificial intelligence and the adoption of new digital innovations are going to change the game. Actually, we prefer to talk of “augmented intelligence”, because we believe AI has to be put to use supporting teams, so they can be more efficient and take better decisions for clients.
This is a marketing communication issued by Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd (hereinafter “Lombard Odier”).
It is not intended for distribution, publication, or use in any jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, or use would be unlawful, nor is it aimed at any person or entity to whom it would be unlawful to address such a marketing communication.
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