Banca del Gottardo has appointed Felix Ehrat, a senior partner of Zurich-based law firm Bär & Karrer, as its new chairman. He replaces Claud...

Banca del Gottardo has appointed Felix Ehrat, a senior partner of Zurich-based law firm Bär & Karrer, as its new chairman. He replaces Claudio Generali, who the bank says has decided to step down from his role after 15 years as chairman. Gottardo also announced the appointment of Reto Himmel, chief technology officer and member of the executive board of Swiss Life, to its board. Swiss Life, the insurance company, owns Gottardo. The move to appoint a Swiss Life senior manager onto the board of Gottardo confirms a growing trend of minority, or in the case of Gottardo, majority shareholders to positions on the board. Both Vontobel and Bank Sarasin have recently given board membership to representatives of banks with interests in both firms. Vontobel appointed last month Pierin Vincenz from Raiffeisen Group, a Swiss financial firm, to its board. Raiffeisen, Switzerland’s third largest bank in terms of assets, has increasingly been cooperating with Vontobel in a number of areas. Bank Sarasin also recently announced the appointment of a member of the Dutch finance firm, Rabobank, to its board. Rabobank has a minority holding in Bank Sarasin.