As part of its series of conferences on managerial innovation, PMP organised a lunch conference on 16 March 2022 on the subject: “Do family businesses have a secret? The experience of Mirabaud”.
It’s not every day you get to meet the head of a family-owned Swiss bank with a history of over 200 years.
Family businesses have a reputation for better performance and better management. This was the question we asked Nicolas Mirabaud, and Marie de Fréminville, an expert in governance.
For Nicolas Mirabaud, what forms the basis of the company and the solidarity of the bank’s partners (there are four of them) are the values to which they are attached, and the sharing of a long-term vision. There may be differences of opinion, but the partners always agree on the strategy (“we are a family”). And then, what also creates trust and proximity with clients, is that the partners’ money is also in the bank, in the same investments (“we eat the same dishes”).
Beyond these shared values, Nicolas Mirabaud also outlined the bank’s international development and CSR strategy (both in terms of the company’s carbon footprint and in the choice of products offered). But the desire remains to keep the family character on a human scale and to be close to the customers.
Marie de Fréminville also shares the conviction that family-run companies are more likely to have this long-term vision, sometimes with a risk of conservatism. She also enlightened us on the principles of good governance, which is also the way to restore rationality, and not just emotion, to the functioning of boards of directors, thanks in particular to independent directors.
Talking about family when we talk about a company is also a way of remembering that a company is made up of men and women, partners and employees, who make it come alive.
Thank you Nicolas Mirabaud and Marie de Fréminville for this refreshing moment.
Nicolas MIRABAUD
Managing Partner of Mirabaud SCA and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mirabaud & Cie (Europe) SA
told us how he governs and manages, within the college of Managing Partners, the family business founded over 200 years ago.
Marie de FREMINVILLE
Governance expert, President of Starboard Advisory, co-author of “100+ testimonials on corporate governance” (OZALIDS) and
“Cybersecurity and decision makers” (ISTE editions)
spoke about her experience of corporate governance and the challenges she faces.
A debate led by : Gilles Martin, Senior Partner PMP and Marie-Sophie HOUIS VALLETOUX, Partner in the Financial Institutions Department of PMP
