, which in early February shrank its board and stepped up a cost-cutting 2023-25 programme, announced further organisational changes yesterday.
The Zurich-headquartered bank said it will create one Global Products & Solutions unit, structure the client business in three regions, and appoint one lead for all digital business transformation initiatives.
“The new structure, centred around enduring client focus, will drive accountability and disciplined entrepreneurship while reinforcing our risk culture,” CEO Stefan Bollinger (pictured) said in a statement.
Shares in the bank closed down 5.8 per cent yesterday, at SFr48.26 per share, and have been down 17.48 per cent since the start of January. European, along with other markets, have sold off amidst fears that US tariffs will damage global trade and economic growth.
The Global Products & Solutions unit combines Julius Baer’s former Markets and Wealth Management Solutions units under the co-leadership of Luigi Vignola and Rajesh Manwani (pictured).
Rajesh Manwani
Manwani, who has led Head of Markets & Wealth Management Solutions Asia since 2017, will become a member of the Global Wealth Management Committee (GWMC) alongside Vignola, who has run the bank’s markets unit globally for the past six years.
The CIO Office area, previously within the former Investment & Wealth Management Solutions setup, will stand as a separate function, led by chief investment officer Yves Bonzon, who has held this position since 2016, while continuing to report to Bollinger. Bonzon will remain a member of the GWMC.
Julius Baer’s client business will be structured in three regions: Asia, which will continue to be led by Jimmy Lee; emerging markets, which will still be led by Rahul Malhotra; and the new Western markets and Switzerland, which will be co-led by Carlos Recoder and Thomas Frauenlob.
Recoder and Frauenlob will oversee Switzerland as well as the rest of Western Europe, the Americas and the intermediaries and family office business.
The private bank also appointed Nicolas de Skowronski, who has been co-head of IWMS for the last five years, as head of digital business transformation, reporting to chief operating officer Nic Dreckmann.