The Swiss bank has a new CEO for its Singapore branch.

Bank J Safra Sarasin, the Switzerland-headquartered private bank, has appointed Benedikt Maissen as chief executive of its Singapore branch. That appointment was effective from the start of April and he reports to Enid Yip, CEO for Asia. He takes over the role previously held by Eric Morin, who last year joined another Switzerland-based private bank, Union Bancaire Privee, to head up its Asian operations.

A Swiss national, Maissen has more than 30 years of private banking experience, with 26 spent in Asia. Maissen joins from Societe Generale Private Banking (Suisse), where he has been head of the Zurich branch since January 2014.

He transferred back to Switzerland with Societe Generale from his role as market head, global wealth management (ASEAN and International) and director of SG Trust (Asia) Ltd, where had been since 2010. He joined Societe Generale from Barclays Wealth Singapore, where he was head, Southeast Asia, Japan and Europe Desk. He joined Barclays in 2005 from Deutsche Bank, Singapore, having worked with Deutsche from 1990 to 1992 and from 1993 to 1997. 

From 1997 to 2004, Maissen was a member of the management committee at Clariden Asset Management (Singapore) and representative and executive vice president of Clariden Bank, Singapore representative office. He began his banking career in 1979 at Credit Suisse, and has since also worked for Rothschild Bank, Bank Leu and the Union Bank of Switzerland.

At the start of March, Bank J Safra Sarasin announced it had appointed former senior ABN AMRO private banker Feroze Sukh as managing director, client advisory. Sukh manages a team of six, three of whom have already joined the bank, covering the non-resident Indian and international markets. He reports to Yelandur Nagendra, deputy chief executive, Asia, and is based at the firm’s Hong Kong branch.