‘The Swiss are a closed book’: Donegal man manages the affairs of the rich in Geneva

When you manage the affairs of high-net-worth individuals, unusual requests are often par for the course. So it was that Donegal man Oliver Donagher found himself on a phone from Geneva to a top London auction house a number of years ago, bidding for the original lyrics of the Beatles song Yellow Submarine.

The bidding war that ensued surpassed his client’s budget but Donagher has otherwise enjoyed plenty of success with his firm’s portfolio of well-heeled individuals and families.

Donagher is a director and shareholder in Fides Trustees SA, a 30-strong company with its headquarters in Switzerland, which also has offices in Mauritius and London. Fides administers trusts, foundations and companies, on behalf of clients.

As well as typical financial assets, other assets in these trusts include property, yachts, private planes and paintings by big artists. It has given Donagher an interesting insight into a world most people do not get to see.

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“Sometimes you get to see and experience those assets with families if you’re invited [to visit] on certain occasions. I think it’s always important to remember that they are your client first and your friends second and that’s the distinction I would always make,” he says.

Most trusts are discretionary and typically there would be a letter of wishes from the person who settles [sets up] the trust – and while it isn’t legally binding, it is there to provide us with guidance

Although his firm doesn’t make investment decisions, part of his job involves helping clients to select a team of professionals such as investment managers and tax advisers to protect and grow wealth settled in trusts.

When assets are being distributed, such as an inheritance, Donagher and his team do, however, have a degree of discretion in what beneficiaries receive and when. This may be an issue, for example, if a beneficiary has an addiction problem and it may not be in their interests to receive large sums of money in one go.

“Most trusts are discretionary and typically there would be a letter of wishes from the person who settles [sets up] the trust – and while it is not legally binding, it is there to provide us with guidance for what they would want to happen in the event of their death.”

[ More Wild Geese ]

Donagher has been in the trust business for 25 years. He is originally from Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, and graduated with a business degree from Athlone Regional Technical College in 1998. There was a strong tradition of business and accountancy graduates from the college emigrating to work in finance roles in the Channel Islands, which led him to Jersey, where he worked as a graduate trainee for a local trust company.

Ten years later, he joined an international group which also had an office in Geneva and Cyprus and he made the move to their Geneva office in 2012. A management buyout and merger with a local Swiss trust company led to his current position.

Donagher met his wife, Tina, then a garda, at a wedding in Ireland and they conducted a long-distance relationship for a while before settling in Geneva, where Tina now works for the World Health Organisation.

Property prices in Geneva are expensive. An average one-bedroom apartment in the city centre will set you back about €1.02 million, while rents are also very high by European standards, with demand outstripping supply

The couple rent an apartment in the city centre and owns a property about an hour away in the resort of Flaine in the French Alps, where they enjoy skiing in winter and hiking and mountain biking in summer.

Property prices in Geneva are expensive. An average one-bedroom apartment in the city centre will set you back about a million Swiss francs (€1.02 million), while rents are also high by European standards, with demand outstripping supply.

Quality of life, for those who can afford to live there, is good, he says. Geneva is a compact city, with a population of 200,000 in a 16sq km municipal area. As the headquarters of many agencies of the UN and the Red Cross, among other international organisations, the city has strong global influences. It is also home to a vibrant financial services industry as well as many leading pharmaceutical companies.

The city has excellent public transport. For 500 francs, you can get unlimited annual bus, tram and water taxis.

Anyone found wandering the streets without ID and with less than 10 francs on them is considered a vagrant

Crime rates are low and there is a strong sense of civic order, says Donagher. There are municipal rules about not flushing toilets after 9pm and not vacuuming on Sundays.

“There is a very visible police presence, and anyone found wandering the streets without ID and with less than 10 francs on them is considered a vagrant,” he says.

Donagher is an active member of the Irish expat community and a former president of the Geneva Irish Association, which organises social events such as a St Patrick’s Day ball. He estimates there are up to 1,500 Irish people living in and around the city. Some have been here many decades and were able to buy houses in the villages on the outskirts of the city, when property was cheaper.

As Switzerland lies outside the EU, those hoping to move here require a work permit unless they are high-net-worth individuals who can qualify for Swiss tax residency. Those lucky enough to live here enjoy low rates of income tax, offsetting Switzerland’s high cost of living.

Donagher feels privileged to live in Geneva, a feeling he says that is shared by many of his friends and contacts.

He travels home to Ireland two or three times a year. He misses his extended family in Donegal and “the more relaxed attitude to life and sense of fun that the Irish have. The Swiss are a closed book, more serious, more reserved and very bureaucratic.”