Julius Baer has hired Goldman Sachs partner Stefan Bollinger as its new chief executive, it said on Tuesday, as the Swiss private bank seeks to move on from the Signa debacle which cost it millions and dented its reputation.
The appointment ends a search for a successor to Philipp Rickenbacher who was ousted in February after Julius Baer suffered a massive loss on loans to the failed property firm controlled by Austrian property magnate Rene Benko.
Bollinger, who is currently co-head of private wealth management for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Goldman Sachs in London, will join Julius Baer no later than Feb. 1, 2025, the Swiss bank said.
Romeo Lacher, chairman of Julius Baer, said Bollinger had an excellent track record in global banking and wealth management, and had played a major role in expanding the presence of Goldman Sachs in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Under his leadership over the past five years, Goldman's private wealth management business in Europe, Middle East and Africa had more than doubled its assets under management.
"Stefan led and built outstanding businesses, most of them at the intersection of wealth management and capital markets," Lacher said.
Lacher also emphasised Bollinger's "comprehensive understanding of risk," a key consideration in the wake of the Signa case.
Bollinger, a 50-year-old Swiss citizen, started his career at Zuercher Kantonalbank. Before joining Goldman Sachs where he had been a partner for 14 years, he also worked at J.P. Morgan.
"I am excited to be joining Julius Baer," he said.
Bank Vontobel analyst Andreas Venditti said the appointment was a good one.
"Stefan Bollinger is qualified to lead JB and to help it overcome any remaining Signa-related issues," said Venditti. "We welcome his appointment and are looking forward to getting to know him soon."
The new CEO will be charged with steering Julius Baer to calmer waters after the Swiss institution dating back to 1890 was caught up in a string of damaging episodes.
In February, Julius Baer was forced to write down 586 million Swiss francs ($659.2 million) in losses on loans to Signa, and said it would exit its private debt business.
The writedown cost Rickenbacher, who had been CEO since 2019, his job. In the last 12 months the bank, which manages 417 billion francs in assets, has seen its share price drop 8%.
Earlier this year the bank was reported to have held talks with fellow private bank EFG International about a potential takeover, that would have seen EFG's CEO Giorgio Pradelli as a potential head of a combined entity.
Swiss regulatory concerns scuppered the talks over a potential tie-up worth some 15 billion Swiss francs, Reuters reported.
($1 = 0.8890 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Jacqueline Wong)
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