The chief executive of Crédit Agricole’s private banking arm in Asia is to step down by June of this year.

Georges Zecchin, chief executive of Crédit Agricole’s private banking arm in Asia will be leaving the firm by June this year to pursue personal interests, a spokesperson for the bank has said.

“Crédit Agricole Suisse is currently looking for his replacement. In the meantime, Youssef Dib, head of private banking based at head office in Geneva, will be supervising the Asian activities of the bank, while Serge Janowski and Sen Sui remain respectively chief executive of the Hong Kong branch and chief executive of the Singapore branch,” the bank said in an emailed statement today.

Zecchin was appointed to the role of CEO in 2010 and is responsible for managing and leading the bank’s operations across Asia. The qualified lawyer joined Crédit Agricole Suisse as head of compliance in 2001 and was quickly appointed to the role of corporate secretary. At the same time he was also made a member of the bank's executive committee and general management committee, according to the spokesperson.

“The bank's executive committee thank him for his talented dedication and hard work which has allowed Crédit Agricole Suisse to rank itself among the top five foreign banks in Switzerland,” the bank said.

“In his last assignment as chief executive for Asia Georges has also been the architect of the bank's structured development in the Asia region and reinforced the regional operations,” it added.

At the beginning of the year the French banking group announced a number of other leadership changes. Roland Feser, chief executive of Crédit Agricole Suisse, Singapore branch, retired in March after a 38-year career with the firm. He headed the Singapore office since July 2008.

His successor, Sui, was formerly head of markets and investment solutions in Asia, based in Hong Kong before making the move to Singapore. Meanwhile Victor Choi, formerly head of foreign exchange and precious metals, was named to take to reins from Sui.

With more than 1,430 employees, Crédit Agricole Suisse has four branches in Switzerland – Basel, Lausanne, Lugano and Zurich – and international private banking business locations, including Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Dubai, Hong Kong, Montevideo and Singapore.