Bank of China (Suisse) in Geneva, which has been operating in the Alpine state for less than two years, has replaced its chief executive and chairman, this publication has learned.

Hong Huang replaced Kenneth Ge as chairman of the board of directors and Xixu Sun replaced Jacques Mechelany as CEO of the bank, a spokesperson said, after this publication heard from sources that a number of high-level executives had left the firm.

The exact reasons for the departures were not given by BoC.

“Hong Huang and Xixu Sun have been serving major domestic and international institutions of Bank of China for many years and have a rich experience in various senior management positions as well as global financial markets. With these changes the Bank of China Group confirms the long-term commitment to its Swiss Bank and the private banking strategy as well as the emphasis for a much closer co-operation directly with Beijing to facilitate group integration,” the spokesperson said.

There have been a number of senior moves in recent months. This publication exclusively reported last year that BoC (Suisse) appointed Peter Triggs as deputy general manager and head of international private banking, recruiting him from Citi Private Bank.

Bank of China, a state-owned bank, has been stepping up its private wealth operations in Switzerland. It won regulatory clearance to set up a Swiss private banking operation in November 2008.