The asset management business of Swiss private bank Lombard Odier has expanded its European sales team with a hire from a rival firm.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers has appointed Matthias Deutsch from Vontobel as sales manager for Germany and Austria, a newly-created position.

Deutsch was previously client service manager at Vontobel Asset Management, where he covered German institutional clients. He has also held positions at JP Morgan and Citibank, focusing on institutional and high net worth clients respectively.

Based in Frankfurt, Deutsch will be responsible for building Lombard Odier IM’s relationships with banks, savings banks, family offices, funds of funds, asset managers and fund platforms in Germany and Austria. He will report to Frank Stefes, head of sales – Germany and Austria.

“Germany is a growing and important market for Lombard IM and we are steadily investing in our on the ground team to be able to offer existing and new clients investment solutions in this constantly changing environment. Matthias has an excellent knowledge of the region and a strong technical background which will ensure we continue to properly align the needs of our clients with our expertise,” said Stefes.

The new addition follows last month's hire of Thomas Breitenmoser as head of sales in Zurich. He is responsible for driving Lombard Odier IM’s presence in German-speaking Switzerland.

Lombard Odier IM’s Geneva-headquartered business managed $50 billion on behalf of clients at the end of 2015. For the bank as a whole, consolidated net profit rose 20 per cent to SFr144 million ($148 million) last year as client assets rose from SFr215 billion to SFr224 billion.