1796

Henri Hentsch (1761-1835) and Jean Gédéon Lombard (1763-1848), second cousins, are among the worthiest representatives of the local tradition of merchant banking.

Jean Gédéon Lombard	Henri Hentsch

Towards the middle of the 18th century, Geneva was profiting from the rise of the textile and watch-making industries, which triggered a process of capital accumulation and a concomitant demand for skilled bankers.

Henri Hentsch established a silk-trading and commission business on January 11, 1796, before joining forces with Jean Gédéon Lombard on June 19, 1798. The two men described their principal business as "commissions operations", the exchange transactions necessitated by the multiple currencies in use during the period. The foundation of a banking house was to prove an audacious enterprise, considering that Geneva had just been annexed by France.

1815
1848

Men of the world

Restoration-era Geneva saw a return to stability and growth, and the ascent of the second generation to company leadership ushered in a period of consolidation and new horizons.

Beginning in 1830, Jean-Eloi Lombard (1801-1872) took over the Bank’s internal development, acting as director for the next forty years. His brother Alexandre (1810-1887), meanwhile, struck out for new horizons as one of the first to recognize the potential of North America.

Their new partner, Charles Odier (1804-1881), attended to international financing operations, particularly in maritime and river transport and in the railway sector. For their part, Charles (1790-1854) and Albert Hentsch (1804-1855) carried on the work of their father Henri, who had since set up business in Paris.

Charles Odier	Jules Darier-Rey

1848
1914

Businessmen committed to the rise of Switzerland's financial industry

Alexis Lombard (1838-1918) and James Odier (1832-1918) took over manage-ment of the Firm and, over the next fifty years and more, helped to make it one of Geneva’s leading institutions. Testament to the Bank’s contem-porary celebrity is to be found in Jules Verne’s novel From the Earth to the Moon (1865), in which the Firm is listed among the backers of a fictional interplanetary project.

From the Earth to the Moon a novel by Jules Verne (1865)

Driven by their entrepreneurial spirit, the Partners assisted in the creation of the Geneva Stock Exchange in 1857 as well as, in 1905, the Swiss National Bank. The Firm favored management activities that could take advantage of James Odier’s wide-ranging expertise in the financial markets; this know-how was also to stand him in good stead when, in 1872, he joined Jules Darier-Rey (1817-1900) to found the first local life insurance company, "La Genevoise".

1914
1945

The Bank survives crisis to become a social innovator

As dark clouds were massing on the political horizon at the dawn of the 20th century, Emile Odier (1862-1920), Albert Lombard (1880-1960), Jean Lombard (1875-1957), and Edmond Odier (1891-1937) were busy making sure that everything remained on an even keel at the Bank. The First World War left Geneva unscathed, but had serious repercussions on business.

Nevertheless, in 1919 the Firm was among the first to establish a pension fund for its employees – Switzerland itself was not to begin considering a social security program until 1925.

At the international level, the end of the First World War brought with it new challenges in the form of restrictions imposed on free trade by the former combatants, conditions which required considerable economic adaptation. When the New York Stock Exchange crashed in October 1929, however, the general mood of euphoria came to a brutal end, with the gloom rapidly settling over Europe and ultimately reaching Geneva as well. The Firm rode out this difficult period, which featured a slow-down in its activities that was not to end until the Second World War had drawn to a close.

"The current mood of enthusiasm reigning on the Stock Exchange (…) makes it our duty to remind staff of the dangers of speculation" Employee memo, May 3, 1927

1945
2000

Forerunners constantly able to meet the challenges of a changing world

After the Second World War, Geneva’s financial sector took part in the reconstruction efforts of the "thirty glorious years", which produced a major demand for capital as well as considerable wealth. The legal conditions under which Geneva’s private bankers operate predispose them to what is, after all, their natural calling: wealth management.

Driven by Marcel Odier and marking the dawn of the globalized economy (which later saw it become the first European house to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1979), the Firm became the first of its kind to open an office abroad, in Montreal in 1951. Furthermore, Marcel Odier was able to persuade his Partners, in 1957, to install an IT system.

On the business front, meanwhile, the 1950s saw other innovations, such as the creation and distribution of investment funds in Europe, which allowed the Firm to meet the demands of a constantly growing client base. The Bank was quick to note the needs of institutional investors (pension funds) and, in the early 1970s, established a department specially designed to meet their requirements. It was this same spirit of innovation that led to its participation in the creation of an electronic Swiss stock exchange in 1991, as well as to its launch in 1995 of the very first industry fund with its own Scientific Advisory Board.