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Other - AUGUST 31, 2017

Former Pictet Wealth Management CEO establishes Lucid Investments in Tel Aviv

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Former CEO at Pictet Wealth Management Israel, Karen Schwok, has established the multifamily office and wealth management firm Lucid Investments in Tel Aviv.

The firm aims to assist high-tech entrepreneurs, families and trustees in developing strategies for long-term investment success and asset management within a dynamic economy.

Previously, Schwok established and served for six years as CEO of Pictet Wealth Management Israel, a subsidiary of Pictet & Cie SA, the third largest bank in Switzerland. Schwok helped lay the groundwork for the bank's expansion into Israel. Prior to that, she established the first Institutional Desk in Israel at Bank Leumi, the second largest bank in Israel.

Israel's continuous growth is mainly due to the rapid influx of wealth in the high-tech sector, which has created the reputation as the "startup nation."

A unique financial ecosystem has evolved in Israel since the Bachar Committee in 2007, which prohibited local banks from providing wealth management services for the 10,000-plus Israeli families with more than $1 million in equity, according to a 2016 Merrill Lynch survey. Consequently, many international banks saw an opportunity to fill this void and provide comprehensive wealth management services for high-net-worth individuals in Israel.

Another factor leading to increased demand for the kind of services offered by Lucid Investments is the Immigration of Jewish people back to Israel (called “Aliya” in the Jewish community). A flexible tax regime encouraged more than 30,000 new immigrants to settle in 2016, a 12-year high. Nearly half of those immigrants originated from Western Europe or North America, and many of those have brought substantial wealth into the country.

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