The new bank is the direct result of Joseph Safra having been granted a coveted Swiss banking licence after Swiss authorities approved Safra's purchase of the small Uto Bank in Switzerland. The operation will be renamed Bank Jacob Safra, after his father, and although it will initially be only a small concern employing 20 people, the bank already has expansion plans on its agenda. It is headquartered in Zurich but will include a Geneva branch not far from the location of Edmond Safra's old Republic National Bank, which he sold to HSBC Holdings shortly before his death.

Joseph Safra said 'Switzerland is an important strategic base for international banking business, and the bank can build on 150 years of experience and tradition of the Safra family.'

Suggestions that the new Swiss bank was targeting business from HSBC were denied, but bankers will recall the high-profile events of the 1980's, which saw a large-scale feud between Edmond Safra and American Express, among allegations of money laundering, and accusations that Edmond Safra competed unfairly with American Express using Geneva-based Trade Development Bank employees after selling the bank to the US group.

Joseph Safra's new bank will focus on private banking, a sector where not just HSBC but an increasing number of other foreign banks are expanding alongside Swiss private banks. Its operations are totally separate form those of the Safra Group, led by Joseph and another brother Moise, although it will be run and controlled by Joseph. Moise Safra said that he was pleased that the new bank will 'keep the memory of our father alive', and also said that Joseph's experience 'makes him predestined to take over the responsibility and control of the (new) bank.'