Banque Cantonale de Genève (BCGE) is a limited company established under Swiss public law, resulting from the merger of the Caisse d'Épargne de la République et Canton de Genève (founded in 1816) and the Banque Hypothécaire du Canton de Genève (founded in 1847). It is one of the 24 cantonal banks.
72.6% of the bank's capital is held by the Geneva public authorities (the State of Geneva holds 44.3%, the city of Geneva holds 20.9%, while the Geneva municipalities hold 7.4%). The rest of the capital (27.4%) is traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange, where the bank is listed.
BCGE group operates as a universal bank: its client base is made up of both individuals and companies. The activities of the Group include day-to-day banking services, mortgage loans, financing of companies and public authorities, asset management, pension services, private banking and commodity trade finance.
In addition to its 21 branches in the Canton of Geneva, the group is also present in Lausanne, Zurich, and Basel in Switzerland as well as in France (Lyon, Annecy, Paris), and it maintains two representative offices in Dubai and Hong Kong.
History
Origins
The Banque Cantonale de Genève is the result of a merger of two institutions, the “Caisse d'Épargne de la République et Canton de Genève” and the “Banque Hypothécaire du Canton de Genève”, both established during the 19th century, making it the oldest cantonal bank.
In 1816, the State of Geneva created the Caisse d'Épargne de Genève upon the proposal of Jean Auguste Pyrame de Candolle and Richard Tronchin; Tronchin participating in the foundation of the establishment by providing the guarantee capital. The bank replaced the previous Caisse d'Épargne et de Dépôt established in the city in 1789. The goal of the new bank is to finance the activity of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Geneva region while encouraging the population, especially the working class, to accumulate savings. By statute, the bank is a foundation governed by public law. When it was founded in 1816, its offices were located at Geneva City Hall. The bank then took up occupancy at 113 rue des Chanoines (now 10 rue Calvin). As of 1839, it moved to 12 rue de la Corraterie. To foster further development, the establishment built a new building located at the intersection of Boulevard du Théâtre and Rue Petitot in 1879, then a second building in 1913, located at 4 rue de la Corraterie. The number of depositors increased from 12,935 in 1859 to 89,828 in 1910 and by 1913, the majority of Genevans had a bankbook at the Caisse d'Épargne. In 1968, customer deposits reached 750 million francs. In 1987, the Caisse d'Épargne became the CEG-Caisse d'Épargne, then changed its name again three years later to become CEG Genève. CEG Genève opened its first branch in France in 1993, with the head office in Lyon and a branch in Annecy. In 1993, the bank employed 530 employees throughout the canton of Geneva.
The Caisse hypothécaire was founded in 1847 by James Fazy. The bank initially catered to a client base made up primarily of farmers. From a statutory perspective, the bank is a corporation under public law: the municipalities own the capital but the institution does not possess a government-backed guarantee. Its offices were initially located on Rue de la Pelisserie. Two years later in 1849, the bank moved to Place du Molard. In 1976, the institution changed its name to “Banque Hypothécaire du Canton de Genève”, abbreviated BHCG or simply BCG. Starting in 1987, the institution opened its capital to the general public through the issue of bearer shares, although the majority of the capital remained with the Geneva municipalities through registered shares. In the period from 1987 to 1990, the bank built a new head office located at Quai de l'Île 17, inaugurated in 1991. In 1994, the building became the headquarters of the new Banque Cantonale de Genève.
A merger of the two institutions was considered several times during the 20th century. Several unsuccessful projects were launched by Socialist MPs: Jules Roux in the course of the 1930s, then Alex Burtin in the 1960s. The project came to fruition in the early 1990s in the context of increased competition and crisis in the Swiss real estate market, which generated significant losses for local banking institutions inciting them to pool their costs. In 1992, the Grand Council of Geneva passed a resolution of principle in favour of a merger of the two establishments; the citizens of the city later approved the project in 1993 after a vote. The Banque Cantonale de Genève was founded on 1 January 1994. Two-thirds of the new institution originated from CEG Genève and one-third from Banque Hypothécaire du Canton de Genève.