But 2010 brought change. Like the dramatic finale of a corporate soap opera, a management buy-out handed the bank’s fate to new hands-and Axion Swiss Bank was born. The Ticino Cantonal Bank became the star shareholder, holding a hearty 80%. The rest lies with Axion’s own sharp-suited managers, who clearly believed in the place enough to put their money where their meetings happen.
By 2015, Axion was feeling ambitious, scooping up the Lugano branch of Société Générale Private Banking. Now with 66 employees and a cool 1.46 billion Swiss francs under its watch as of 2020, this bank is a reminder that Lugano is where tradition and reinvention meet-sometimes over an espresso and sometimes over a spreadsheet. After all, in Switzerland, even the banks get a bit of a makeover!
