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From the Opalesque Team: Jérôme Koechlin, spokesman for Geneva-based Union Bancaire Privée, wrote in Swiss daily newspaper Le Temps yesterday.

Referring to December’s Int’l Herald Tribune’s article (Madoff dealings tarnish a private Swiss bank), Koechlin reiterated that UBP has had no direct link with the Fairfield Group (FGG).

UBP’s relationship with FGG, contrary to what has been reported, is based solely on an advisory management agreement. Such agreements are common among professional fund managers. The advisory management agreement was done directly with the directors of the FoHFs division at Fairfield.

Fairfield’s FoHFs have to be widely diversified (they include around 40 underlying funds), and this is how Madoff became part of the diversification process. FGG managed 4 FoHFs within this specialized division, where UBP played an advisory role.

At no time did UBP intervene in the investment decisions, which were Fairfield’s sole responsibility. UBP acted as trustee for the FoHFs, never as trustee for the underlying hedge funds.

UBP’s relationship with Fairfield started in 2003, at which time Fairfield had already had links with Madoff for a few years. Furthermore, there is no existing internal document drafted by Fairfield, as mentioned in the IHT article, that UBP is aware of.......................

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