Conversations about women and wealth in private banking often consider both the demand and supply sides: the growing number of female clients, shifting inheritance patterns, and the next generation of entrepreneurs on one hand, and on the other, who is leading the institutions that manage this wealth, and how that leadership shapes the conversation.
Émilie Serrurier-Hoël, who took the helm of Mirabaud & Cie (Europe) SA in June 2025, has been vocal on both dimensions. In a tribune published in April 2026 in Femmes Magazine, she argued that financial independence for women functions as a lever of genuine autonomy, enabling people to make their own choices, secure their futures, and act with confidence, and that the financial sector has a role to play in normalising financial literacy and engagement across all demographics.
A Structural Issue, Not a Niche One
Serrurier-Hoël’s argument in the April 2026 piece draws on a broader context. Women in Europe have historically faced structural disadvantages in wealth accumulation: interrupted careers, lower average salaries, and shorter contribution periods affect long-term savings and pension outcomes. Financial independence, in her framing, is therefore not simply a matter of personal finance; it is a condition for economic equality, and one that financial institutions are well placed to address through education, accessible products, and visible female leadership.
The Mirabaud Group is in a position to speak on this with some institutional credibility. The executive committee of Mirabaud & Cie (Europe) SA’s Luxembourg office is majority female, a composition that Serrurier-Hoël has pointed to not as a statement but as a practical demonstration that private banking leadership does not have to look the way it traditionally has.
What Financial Independence Actually Looks Like
In her tribune, Serrurier-Hoël was deliberate about what financial independence means in practice. It does not require high-risk investment or large starting capital. It means understanding how money can work toward personal goals, through savings, long-term investment, property, or education, and approaching those decisions from a position of knowledge rather than anxiety. The earlier that engagement starts, she argued, the more room there is to build genuine financial autonomy over a lifetime.
For a private Bank like Mirabaud, which works heavily with entrepreneurs and family offices, this argument has particular resonance. Many of the bank’s clients are navigating exactly these questions — not just for themselves, but for their children and the generation that will eventually inherit both wealth and the responsibility of managing it. Serrurier-Hoël’s point that financial literacy is itself a form of legacy speaks directly to the kind of long-term, intergenerational work that defines the bank’s client relationships.
Mirabaud, the Next Generation, and the Wealth Transfer Ahead
The broader context here is significant. According to the 2025 EY Global Wealth Research Report, nearly €87 trillion is expected to change hands in Europe alone by 2040. A substantial portion of those transfers will involve women, as inheritors, as surviving spouses, or as entrepreneurs in their own right. How well the private banking industry prepares for that shift will depend in part on whether it treats female clients as a segment to be served or as a constituency whose financial engagement it has an interest in deepening from the outset.
Serrurier-Hoël’s position at Mirabaud & Cie (Europe) SA suggests the Mirabaud Group is at least asking the right questions. Whether through the Mirabaud Academy, which brings the next generation into early contact with wealth management, or through the visibility of female leadership at the most senior level, the institution is building the kind of relationships that take decades rather than quarters to develop.
