The chief executive of Switzerland's Julius Baer, Boris Collardi, wants to pursue growth through more team acquisitions this year, he told WealthBriefingAsia in Singapore last week.

The chief executive of Switzerland's Julius Baer, Boris Collardi, wants to pursue growth through more team acquisitions this year, he told WealthBriefingAsia in Singapore last week. 

The bank will look to grow its ranks through bolt-on acquisitions focussing on Germany, Italy and Asia, he told this publication at a media briefing last week at the bank's Singapore office. 

"We continue to be on the acquisition trail and there are many distressed assets. We are particularly interested in team acquisitions. We are focussing on Europe, including Switzerland, onshore Germany and onshore Italy, and of course our second home market Asia," he said.

Julius Baer has in the last six months already added around 30 staff through team hires. Last week sister publication WealthBriefing revealed that Julius Baer had hired a team of 18 from Swiss rival Clariden Leu, to cover the Middle East from its Zurich office. In November the bank lured a senior team of eight from Switzerland's Bank Sarasin & Cie for its Hong Kong business. A small team also joined from Macquarie Private Wealth when the two banks signed a partnership in October. 

Boris Collardi added the uncertain economic climate is still throwing up plenty of opportunities to pick up bargains and wholesale team hires will be a priority. He admitted it is not always an easy process, pointing to the failed acquisition of Bank Sarasin last year. 

"Finding the right partner is not as easy as it looks. Everyone wants to buy and no-one wants to sell," he said.

However Collardi seemed undaunted by the sudden about-face from Dutch lender Rabobank in November, which after lengthy discussion with the bank over a sale of its Bank Sarasin unit, opted instead to sell to secretive Swiss/Brazilian private bank Safra for $1.13 billion. 

Julius Baer didn't entirely miss out. Days later, the team of eight in Hong Kong headed by Elina So, abandoned Sarasin for its spurned suitor.

As a result of the soured sale, not to mention net new money from wealthy clients last year totalling SFr 10 billion ($10.8 billion), Julius Baer is cash-rich. 

But if the right opportunity does not present itself, Collardi has a plan B. "We reserve the option to launch a two year share buy back if we don't find an acquisition," he said. The share buy-back programme will be worth up to SFr500 million, he added. 

The bank said in its annual results published this month that it aimed to add up to 50 relationship managers globally per year, without breaking down regions. Collardi underlined that the bank has dedicated half of its growth allowance to Asia, which currently makes up 15 per cent of its asset base of SFr170 billion. 

Critics point out that integrating so many different cultures and personalities, not to mention egos, between teams, could be problematic. Experts say that without proper due diligence, mergers can easily be derailed with potentially catastrophic results. 

So how will Collardi prevent in-fighting between his old guard and newer arrivals? "Simply very good management," he said.