Top family business prize gets new sponsor – a family-owned bank

Swiss bank Pictet is to sponsor the annual IMD global family business award, considered by many as the most prestigious prize in the sector. IMD, the Swiss business school, said Pictet has signed a three-year deal to back the awards, which are in their 23rd year.

Previously, the award was sponsored by Lombard Odier, which like Pictet, is a Swiss private bank/asset manager. Pictet is still family-owned, with the senior partners coming from the Pictet and de Saussure families. The bank moved to a corporate partnership structure from an unlimited liability one after the financial crisis. This lessened the role of the family owners, although the senior partner is still a member of the Pictet family.  

“The partnership structure resembles the functioning of a close-knit family-owned group in many ways,” said Remy Best, a Pictet partner, in a statement announcing the sponsorship. “We therefore fully understand the evolving needs family businesses necessitate and can talk to them on the same level about their concerns, such as succession, education and the role of money.”

Previous winners of the IMD award include LEGO, Ayala Corporation, S.C. Johnson, Hermès, Barilla, Yazaki Corporation, Merck, Firmenich, Bel Group, Bavaria, and most recently Pentland Group.