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Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque London:

At the recent Opalesque Roundtable in Geneva (here), Glen Millar, director of the Swiss offices of Kinetic Partners, an advisory firm, confirmed that his firm had chosen to set up an office in Geneva – as a “steady trickle” of managers had been moving to Switzerland over the last couple of years. He mentioned the cuts in non-dom benefits, higher top marginal taxes, and the forthcoming EU Directive as the main reasons for UK hedge funds considering moving abroad – although not necessarily actually doing it.

“A key date to have in mind will be April 5 of 2010, when many of these tax changes that have been announced will become applicable,” he said.

Kinetic Partners told Bloomberg.com in October that it had already helped 23 hedge fund firms move from London to Switzerland.

But, according to Luc Estenne, CEO at Partners Advisers, a local asset management company for family offices, the number of hedge funds moving from the UK to Switzerland had been “minuscule.”

“The significant press coverage … seems in consequence oversized compared to the reality we have been confronted with and could potentially be attributed to a lobbying initiative,” he said at the roundtable.

Geneva’s talen......................

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