Bank Vontobel is leaving Zurich after more than 100 years, announcing plans to move its headquarters to a new campus in Baar, in the canton of Zug, by 2030. This move will bring together over 1,500 employees currently spread across seven Zurich buildings.
The Zurich-founded wealth manager, established in 1924, confirmed on Monday that it has signed a long-term lease for a purpose-built campus in Baar’s Lindenpark district. The new site will span roughly 15,000 square metres and is expected to open in 2030, consolidating staff currently scattered across multiple Zurich locations under one roof.
Vontobel Holding, the group’s parent company, along with the executive board and board of directors, will relocate to the new Baar site.
A company spokesperson told local media that the consolidation makes sense partly because leases on several existing Zurich premises are expiring in the coming years, and that the move is primarily aimed at bringing staff from support and back-office functions together in one location.
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Vontobel is not abandoning Zurich entirely. Its current building on Bleicherweg will be renovated into what the company calls a “first-class client location,” retaining more than 300 employees for client-facing functions. Client advisory teams and offices in Basel, Bern, Chur, Geneva, Lausanne, Locarno, Lucerne, Lugano, St. Gallen and Winterthur, as well as international offices, remain unchanged. 1003
Handover of the new Baar campus to Vontobel as tenant is expected around the end of 2029, according to the Zug-based real estate developer behind the project. 1012
Is the move purely around Zug’s favorable corporate tax regime? Zurich’s corporate taxes have become uncompetitive. The relocation should force Zurich authorities to reconsider their tax and building regulations.
However, this framing conflicts with Vontobel’s own public statement. The bank explicitly said tax considerations were not the decisive factor behind the decision, pointing instead to the desire for a unified, modern campus that fosters collaboration and provides room for future growth.
Zug’s cantonal finance director, Heinz Tännler, is nonetheless reported to have welcomed the move, reflecting longstanding competition between Swiss cantons for corporate headquarters and the tax revenue they bring.
