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Private Banking Executive Moves | Q1 2023

Bank of America (BofA)

  • Bank of America (BofA) has appointed Thorsten Pauli as its new Country Executive for Switzerland. He takes on the role as Country Executive in addition to his role as Head of Equity Capital Markets (ECM) in Investment Banking for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Pauli joined Bank of America in 2019. Previously, he had worked at UBS for more than 20 years and is accordingly well-known in the local scene. He thus replaces the previous head of Switzerland, Manuel Ebner. The latter has decided to retire after a career of almost 13 years at Bank of America. 

 

Banque Havilland

  • Swiss national Fabian Käslin becomes CEO of Luxembourg-based Banque Havilland in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. He succeeds Zorica Lipovac, who took over on an interim basis after Marc Arand took over as Group CEO of Banque Havilland in Luxembourg at the beginning of April 2022. The 36-year-old Käslin was most recently Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Banque International à Luxembourg in Switzerland (BIL Suisse). 

 

Bellevue Group

  • At the Annual General Meeting of the asset manager, Barbara Angehrn Pavik will be proposed as a new member of the Board of Directors. She replaces Daniel Sigg, who decided not to stand for re-election after 16 years on the Board. With her 20 years of experience in the healthcare sector, Angehrn Pavik will strengthen the expertise on the Board of Directors. Angehrn Pavik has held various leadership positions, most recently as Chief Business Officer and member of the Executive Committee at Vifor Parma. 

 

Bitcoin Suisse

  • Bitcoin Suisse is changing its management structure in three areas. Sven Ramspott will take over the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in addition to his current responsibility as Head of Risk. Pierre-Alain Krohn will take over as head of compliance. Michael Gauckler, currently Head of Innovation, will become the person responsible for Products. These appointments are related to the reorganization and savings drive of Switzerland's largest crypto broker.

 

EFG International

  • Philip Lofts is to be appointed as a new member of the Board of Directors of EFG International. Following regulatory approval, he will be proposed for election to the Board at the upcoming Annual General Meeting on April 21. Lofts succeeds Susanne Brandenberger, who has decided not to stand for re-election, and replaces Brandenberger as Chairman of the Risk Committee.
  • Lofts has spent more than 30 years at the major bank UBS, where he served as chief risk officer from 2008 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2015. Since 2017, he has served as a non-executive director of the big bank's Americas subsidiary.
  • Furthermore, Maria Leistner will replace Steven Jacobs on the board. All other members of the Board of Directors are standing for re-election.

 

Credit Suisse

  • Laura Barrowman has left Credit Suisse. The departure took place at the end of January. She has held the position of CIO since 2019.
  • Christiano Russo, head of the Latin America business, has left Credit Suisse (CS). Raphael Kirschstein has been appointed head of the Central America desk in Switzerland.
  • Michael Sager, currently operational head of P&BB, will take over as interim head at Credit Suisse with immediate effect and join the management of the Switzerland unit. He succeeds Anke Bridge-Haux.

 

Edmond de Rothschild

  • François Pauly, current CEO, has left the Swiss private banking group Edmond de Rothschild as of mid-March. The Luxembourger has held this position since June 2021. Baroin Ariane de Rothschild has taken over the CEO role ad interim.

 

Julius Baer

  • The Board of Directors of Julius Baer will propose Jürg Hunziker for election as a new member at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on April 13, 2023. He will complement the Board as Heinrich Baumann reaches the maximum term limit for Julius Baer Board members. At the same time, Ivo Furrer, who has been in office since 2017, will not stand for re-election. Hunziker, a Swiss national, has 40 years of experience in the financial services industry. He stepped down as senior advisor to Avaloq's Executive Board in 2022. He served as CEO of the Swiss banking software company from 2018 to 2021, and was deputy CEO from 2016 to 2017.
  • Julius Baer has appointed Marco Parroni to the post of head of marketing. Previously, he was responsible for partnerships and sponsorship at the bank. He is succeeded in this post by Antje Hembd.

 

LGT Bank

  • Anke Bridge-Haux becomes CEO at the Swiss unit of LGT. The 45-year-old Swiss and German citizen will take over as CEO of LGT Bank (Switzerland) at the beginning of next November. She will succeed Heinrich Henckel there, who will be appointed to the Board of Directors of LGT Bank Switzerland. Until now, she was Head of Personal & Business Banking (P&BB) and on the Executive Board of Credit Suisse Switzerland.

 

Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB)

  • Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) has nominated Christian Wiesendanger, the Swiss veteran of major banks with careers at Credit Suisse (CS) and UBS for election to the Board of Directors. He is to replace Gabriela Nagel-Jungo and Urs Leinhäuser on the board, along with Nicole Brunhart, head of transformation at fund platform Clearstream Fund Center. The latter two are stepping down due to term limits, the LLB added.

 

Bank Linth (Subsidiary of LLB)

  • Luc Schuurmans will leave Bank Linth at the end of May 2023. Schuurmans joined the Executive Board in 2011 and has since been responsible for the Clients division. In this role, he also served as deputy to the CEO. 

 

Lombard Odier

  • Serge Fehr will join the extended circle of Lombard Odier partners next August. According to reports, the Frenchman will be responsible for the Swiss home market - Andreas Arni, the head of the Zurich office of the traditional house, will therefore also report to Fehr. Fehr was previously head of Swiss private banking at Credit Suisse.

 

Miraubaud Private Bank

  • Geneva-based private bank Mirabaud has appointed Patrick Hauri as its new Global Head of Risk & Compliance. Across ten jurisdictions, he will support the bank's three business units, Wealth Management, Asset Management and Corporate Finance. He will report directly to Camille Vial, Group Managing Partner and CEO of Mirabaud & Cie. Hauri has spent a total of 15 years with the Lombard Odier Group, most recently as Group Chief Risk Officer and prior to that as Head of Strategic Projects.

 

PostFinance

  • PostFinance CEO Hansruedi Köng has announced his resignation. He will step down as Chief Executive Officer at the end of February 2024.

 

Raiffeisen

  • The Raiffeisen Group is getting a new chief economist. Fredy Hasenmaile will take up the post on July 1, 2023, succeeding long-serving Chief Economist Martin Neff, who has held this position at Raiffeisen since 2013. Neff will retire in the course of the third quarter of 2023. Hasenmaile is currently Head of Real Estate Economics and Managing Director at Credit Suisse. 

 

Swiss Bankers Association (SBA / SBVg)

  • Jörg Gasser (CEO) is leaving the SBA to pursue a new career. The search for a replacement for the managing director is underway. Following his departure and until a successor has been found, August Benz, deputy CEO of the SBA, will manage the office on an ad interim basis.

 

Swiss National Bank

  • Andréa M. Maechler, Member of the Governing Board, will leave the Swiss National Bank (SNB) at the end of June 2023 to take up the position of Deputy General Manager at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel at the beginning of September 2023. 

 

UBS

  • Swiss banker Sergio Ermotti is returning to UBS to become Group CEO and President of the Group Executive Board from April 5, 2023. He replaces the current CEO Ralph Hamers. (At the same time, Ermotti will step down as Chairman of the Board of Swiss Re after the company's Annual General Meeting).

Aargau / Solothurn Region

  • Thomas Sommerhalder in his functions as regional director and regional head of corporate client business (CIC), head of wealth management (WM) will retire in the second half of 2023. He will hand over the leadership of CIC and Wealth Management in the region as early as April 1, but will continue in the role as regional director until June 30.
  • On July 1, André Spycher will take over from him in the role of regional director. Spycher currently heads the region's personal banking (PB) business. Asset Management will now be headed by Yves Müller, who has gained experience in the business with wealthy entrepreneurs (E&E). Finally, Stephan Hässig takes over the management of the CIC business. He currently heads the CIC Zurich North market area.

Valais / Wallis Region

  • Fabrice Biaggi will take over from Iwan Willisch as head of private client business in the region. Biaggi, a native of Valais, currently heads Private Wealth Riviera Vaud. Willisch will continue to act as Regional Director and as Regional Head CIC.

Bern Region

  • Andreas Reber is stepping down as head of Wealth Management Berne after seven years. He has been with UBS for more than 40 years; he will be succeeded by Jürg Kaufmann from the city of Bern. The ex-UBS banker most recently worked as an entrepreneur in the technology and finance sector.
  • Remote Sales & Advice (RSA), as the segment is known internally, will now be merged into a Swiss hub in the RSA PB&WMCH unit after a build-up phase. Francesco Palaia will head the new RSA PB&WMCH unit. He reports to Simone Westerfeld, Head of Personal Banking, with an additional reporting line to Anton Simonet, Head of Swiss Wealth Management.
  • Arnoud Rozendaal has expressed a desire to step down as head of RSA PB and seek a new challenge. Marco Formoso will become head of RSA WMCH.

 

Vontobel

  • Christel Rendu de Lint will take over as Head of Vontobel Investments from CEO Zeno Staub as of January 13, 2023. In this new role, she will also become a member of the Executive Committee of Vontobel Holding. Rendu de Lint joined Vontobel in May 2021 as Deputy Head of Investments from Union Bancaire Privée (UBP). 

 

VP Gruppe

  • VP Bank has appointed Mara Harvey and Rolf Steiner to the Group Executive Management as of April 1. Harvey has been CEO of VP Bank (Switzerland) Ltd since the beginning of the year. Steiner, who joined VP Bank in October 2019, has headed the new Group Products & Solutions division since the beginning of the year. In addition, Tobias Wehrli, Head of the Liechtenstein and BVI region, is leaving the Executive Board.
  • Prior to joining VP Bank, Mara Harvey worked in wealth management at UBS for around eleven years. Most recently, she was Head Global Wealth Management Client Services and Vice Chairwoman GFO. Steiner's career includes positions in wealth management at Deutsche Bank and Vontobel, both in Zurich.

 

Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB)

  • Roger Müller will step down as Head of Risk at Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) at the end of March 2024. The 60-year-old will leave the cantonal bank after working there for a total of 45 years.
  • The Bank Council of Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) has appointed Martin Bardenhewer as the new Head of Finance (CFO) and member of the General Management effective May 1, 2023. Bardenhewer joined Zürcher Kantonalbank in 2001. Due to the internal succession solution, the current Chief Financial Officer Rudolf Sigg will leave the bank as early as April 30, 2023.
  • ZKB has appointed Alexandra Scriba as the new Head of Institutional Clients & Multinationals. The 45-year-old executive has worked for Switzerland's largest state-owned bank in various functions for around 12 years. Since 2019, she has been Head of Private and Commercial Clients. She succeeds Martin Bardenhewer.
  • Roman Schwarz will take over as Head of Financial Advisory at Zürcher Kantonalbank as of mid-August 2023. He succeeds Judith Albrecht, who took over as Head of the Lake Zurich Market Area of Private Banking on March 1, 2023. Schwarz, 44, has served 12as Head of Private Banking in the Zurich Oberland market area since 2014.

 

 

Contact

Dr. Matthias Oberholzer
Russell Reynolds Associates
Stampfenbachstrasse 5 8001 Zurich
Switzerland
Tel: +41-44-447-30-30
Direct: +41-44-447-30-34
Mobile: +41-79-473-72-68
matthias.oberholzer@russellreynolds.com

 

Dr. Corrado Menghini
Russell Reynolds Associates
Stampfenbachstrasse 5 8001 Zurich
Switzerland
Tel: +41-44-447-30-30
Direct: +41-44-447-30-33
Mobile: +41-79-261-92-42
corrado.menghini@russellreynolds.com