Julius Baer head remains upbeat
You cannot make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, goes the saying. So Beat Wittmann, chief executive of investment products, remains upbeat over his mission to re-engineer Swiss private bank Julius Baer’s asset management activities, despite losing seven specialists last month.
The individuals, led by Andre Ruegg, worked in sales, marketing and products. They are said to be joining Swiss investment boutique Bank am Bellevue, which declined to comment.
Wittmann said their departure was amicable, but added he would be hiring only two or three product specialists to take their place.
He said: “I agreed to join Julius Baer last year to put together the investment arm of our private bank and our European asset management division. There have been a lot of changes.”
The amalgamation of the two divisions follows Baer’s spin-off of its UK-based fixed-income division, now called Augustus Asset Managers. Baer’s US fund arm, Artio Global Investors, is set to be demerged at some point. GAM, a Baer-owned fund of hedge funds operation, has operational independence.
Wittmann resigned as chief executive of investment products at Swiss private bank Clariden Leu last summer, after 12 years in the job. He said: “I wasn’t happy with the way our owner, Credit Suisse, regrouped the operation. I was a winner as a result, but I took the view it should either have been spun off, or entirely integrated.”
Credit Suisse said: “Since 2006, Clariden Leu has been well positioned to play an active role in the private banking market, against a backdrop of consolidation. Credit Suisse continues to capture targeted opportunities for growth and believes Clariden Leu is most effective in pursuing those growth plans under the existing structure.”
Wittmann is far happier with the structure of Baer, many of whose operations were spun off by UBS three years ago.
He said: “I believe clients appreciate our independence. I am also a big supporter of transparency. We have a duty to get our sales materials, as well as our prospectuses, absolutely right.”
To boost accountability, Wittmann is introducing a string of flagship products, notably in absolute return, equity and fixed income. He said Baer would continue to embrace third-party products: “We use a variety of firms, such as Wellington and Augustus.”
He said in-house products needed to pass the quality test before they are used by private bankers. But he said the two sides can work together, where performance permits.
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