Bank Sarasin and AIG Private Bank say their newly launched mass affluent joint venture, bank zweiplus, will not be affected by the problems at AIG, the New York-based insurance company that owns AIG Private Bank.

Sarasin said in a statement: "Bank zweiplus carries out its business activities totally independently from AIG Private Bank as well as AIG Group. Accordingly, the current developments surrounding AIG Group have no effects whatsoever on the business operations of bank zweiplus."