Swiss Watch Fortune Heir Joins $5 Billion Wealth Firm in Monaco

(Bloomberg) — Wealth manager Azura hired an heir to a Swiss watchmaking fortune who previously worked for Monaco’s government to help build up its operations in Europe.

Frédéric Genta is set to join the firm in the city-state next month as regional head of Europe, according to a person familiar with the matter. The 44-year-old son of the late Gérald Genta, founder of the namesake and Gerald Charles watch brands, was most recently Monaco’s secretary for attractiveness, development and digital transformation after earlier working for Silicon Valley tech giants including Google.

A spokeswoman for Azura, which manages almost $5 billion for wealthy individuals and families, declined to comment. Genta also declined to comment. A Monaco government representative didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Founded by former Julius Baer Group Ltd. executive Ali Jamal, Azura joins a growing number of money managers channeling European expansions through Monaco, a Mediterranean playground for the world’s rich that offers zero taxes on capital gains and personal income. Well-heeled residents of the city-state, which is smaller than New York’s Central Park, include UK billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s Executive Chairman Stefano Pessina.

Billionaire Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management is preparing to open a trading operation in the city-state, Bloomberg News reported this month. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Swiss private bank Pictet and real estate broker Knight Frank have similarly opened Monaco offices in recent years.

Anne Torrel Izrael is also joining Azura’s Monaco team as Europe head of client and business development after previously working as a senior private banker at Pictet, the person said, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. Credit Suisse veteran Tarek Sidky and Grégoire Vaucher, a fomer executive at HSBC Holdings Plc’s private bank, started at the firm this year to expand in Switzerland, where it opened an office four years ago.

Jamal, 43, a former Kuwaiti army officer, started Azura in 2019 with about $2 billion of advisory assets under management after working as Julius Baer’s head of key clients for emerging markets. The firm has added more than 20 professionals since the start of 2021 from companies including Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and UBS Group AG. It opened a New York office in 2023 run by former Credit Suisse executive Anthony Kontoleon, adding to locations in London, Singapore and Dubai.

Genta, a Harvard Business School graduate and Monaco national, was appointed to the government position in 2018. He previously served as a member of the management team for Google’s France operations and earlier worked for Amazon.com Inc.

His father, who died at age 80 in 2011, was one of the modern Swiss watch industry’s leading designers, best known for his role in creating watches such as the IWC Ingenieur, the Cartier Pasha and the Omega Constellation. He sold a majority stake in the Gérald Genta watch business in the late 1990s before establishing another brand, Gerald Charles, which he sold in 2003. He remained as designer-in-chief until his death.

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