The project is internally known as One Roof, and it doubles as a statement about the bank’s operating model: partners and teams visible and close to one another; clients welcomed into the same spaces where decisions are made; sustainability built into materials, energy and mobility choices rather than applied retrospectively. Senior managing partner Hubert Keller calls it “a statement that represents who we are today and our future growth ambitions”.
The brief to the architects is explicit: maximise the perception of nature and create interior spaces that foster collaboration. Meanwhile, the client areas, specially designed by Paris-based designer Rodolphe Parente, aim for a subtle and enduring look.
Xavier Bonna, who became the youngest managing partner this January and now co-leads the private clients unit while overseeing HR, shared his big-picture thoughts in an interview with The Edge Singapore at the opening of the new headquarters. He says: “We have not moved for 150 years. So this is a ‘big move’ for us and I think we will stay in this building for the next 100 years or so… This is definitely for the future strategy of the group and it is a milestone for us.”
Architecture as operating system
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Open the doors, and the building’s operating logic becomes clear. The façades are treated uniformly, featuring fully glazed elevations and slender, curved slabs that cantilever to shade the glass while doubling as outdoor terraces. At the centre, a canyon-like atrium draws natural light deep into the layout, while slabs flow seamlessly into ramps and stairs, making it easy to move between levels. The auditorium, which opens onto a garden and seats over 500 people, features individual seats at the front that give way to stepped benches at the back, allowing informal use when not hosting plenary sessions.
The site choice is also part of the function. One Roof sits in Bellevue, within the Champ-du-Château masterplan that includes housing, a park and underground mobility, just minutes from the airport and well connected by rail, road and lake, including a recently approved CGN boat link between Corsier and Bellevue. The aim is to reduce commute friction for cross-functional work and to make it easy for clients to visit, whether by train, bicycle, car or boat.
Sustainability targets are set at the highest tier of three systems: SNBS, Minergie-P and BREEAM “Outstanding”. The building uses locally sourced materials and recycled concrete for the raft foundation, collects rainwater for toilets and irrigation, mounts more than 700 m² (7,535 sq ft) of rooftop solar panels and connects to the GeniLac lake-water network for heating and cooling. More than 160 trees are planted around the headquarters, and measures are in place to support biodiversity.
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Mobility planning includes the adjacent train station, comprehensive bicycle facilities and electric vehicle charging. The idea is that environmental, social and economic sustainability support one another: daylight on all floors, multiple spaces for exchange and a flexible, regular grid that can adapt to future needs. At the same time, consolidating six addresses into one reduces the bank’s operational footprint.
The interiors support this goal. Client salons interlace with collaboration floors rather than sitting apart. The entrance nods to the former HQ on Rue de la Corraterie and features the fleuron, the mark the firm has used since its founding. The auditorium’s folded-paper geometry is intended as a symbol of transmission and continuity across generations — a literal space for the partnership’s habit of talking things through.
Partnership, not a CEO
One Roof also reflects the bank’s approach to governance. Lombard Odier is run by a small group of managing partners who share collective responsibility rather than being led by a single chief executive. Bonna says: “We don’t have a single CEO, but all six managing partners discuss together to make decisions. So the decision-making process could take time, as we plan for the long-term.” He adds that a consensus model can be less rapid than a listed bank, yet the trade-off is permanence in decisions once made.
Responsibility is divided: Keller coordinates partnership and strategy while in Private Clients, Bonna works alongside Frédéric Rochat and Denis Pittet. Alexandre Meyer, a managing partner since 2024, oversees compliance, risk and corporate services, leads the 1Roof programme and sits on the risk and due diligence committees, keeping control functions close to front-office teams. In asset management, Jean-Pascal Porcherot co-heads Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM). The building is designed with a simple layout so partners stay visible and close to clients. Its ramps, atrium and short distances make working together easier and more efficient.
Bonna’s portfolio highlights the connection between culture, clients and people. He co-leads private clients and oversees human resources, following a career that took him from portfolio management in Brussels to heading the bank’s Belgian private-client business, then a senior banker role in Geneva, before becoming a partner in January 2025.
“For the moment, I’m the youngest,” he notes, a line that reflects the firm’s deliberate approach to leadership succession as it guides clients through their own generational transitions.
When asked about changes under One Roof, Bonna is clear: “First of all, to know each other better… We would like to create further collaboration and synergies among the different teams.”
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He admits that although the pandemic made online meetings easier, the new headquarters is designed to encourage face-to-face interaction. Informal spots like the back of the auditorium with built-in benches, the lake-facing collaboration floors and the cafeteria terraces invite casual meetings, while the building’s “inner topography” — its ramps and stairs — encourages the partners to move around and connect.
Client experience is designed to match the bank’s operating model. The way Bonna describes it, human and personal relations are very important in the wealth management world. “That is something you cannot replace with a machine,” he says. Hybrid options are there, but the bank’s bias remains in-person for advice and planning.
The symbolism is deliberate. The architects describe the auditorium as a daylit theatre opening onto the garden, designed for investor forums and staff teach-ins, and used just as often as an everyday working forum. The team emphasises that, taken together, the atrium, the forum and the interlaced client salons are the building blocks of a communicative firm.
Tradition, independence and Singapore
Bonna comes from one of Lombard Odier’s historic partner families, but he’s quick to point out that joining the bank was a choice he made for himself, not something expected of him. “It was more a personal conviction,” he says. The point resonates with how he thinks about clients: good long-term decisions — whether a career choice or an investment one — are made on conviction rather than to satisfy short-term signals.
Bonna says the independent partnership model is what makes this possible. Lombard Odier doesn’t have public shareholders or group-level debt. “The main advantage is that we can take decisions with a long-term view,” Bonna says. “We don’t have to take decisions for shareholders or for the next quarter.” That stance is visible in One Roof, which he describes as an explicit investment in the long term.
For Asia, and Singapore specifically, the bank’s growth plans are unambiguous. “Asia in general for us is a market where we see a lot of potential for growth,” says Bonna, while identifying Singapore as the growth driver for the region.
He highlights an existing platform of more than 100 staff across functions in the city-state, with ongoing hiring. In his view, Singapore boasts the “most evolved” financial ecosystem in the region — a version of Switzerland in Asia — and there is “more room to grow” compared to mature European markets.
The Geneva headquarters is designed to support that growth model. By bringing teams and control functions together in one place, the bank aims to shorten the time it takes to move from idea to client approval around the world. Meanwhile, regional hubs help extend the service model across different time zones. As the bank puts it simply: “bring all our expertise together, under one roof, for the benefit of our clients.”
Bonna summarises the building’s symbolism to a single word: “Future”. He expects One Roof to speed knowledge transfer between generations of bankers, to make partner access feel normal for clients and staff and to keep the bank’s decision-makers close to where advice is delivered.
For visitors, a few details catch the eye: the entrance that pays tribute to Rue de la Corraterie, the fleuron brought back as a modern motif, and the building’s layered look like a horizontal mille-feuille of white columns and thin slabs set against the lake and mountains.
For staff, different details come into focus: how quickly a partner can move from a client salon to a risk discussion; how the short path through the atrium encourages spontaneous problem-solving; and how the back of the auditorium serves as an informal meeting spot without the need to book.
Those details reflect the building’s character, which the architects say “breathes”, with curves that don’t quite line up and terraces that shift with their use. For the bank, it’s an operating system for its third century.
