There have been a series of planned arrivals, appointments and departures at the Swiss banking group.

Two senior UBS figures are joining Julius Baer’s top management as part of a reshuffle, the latter bank announced yesterday. 

On the executive board, Sonia Gössi, Switzerland & Europe, will be joining the bank on 1 January 2024 from UBS, where she was sector head for wealth management in the “Europe International North” segment. She began her career in audit and business consulting and joined UBS in 2004, where she served in senior client-facing roles in wealth management as well as various risk control and risk management positions, Julius Baer said in a statement.

Thomas Frauenlob, in the intermediaries and family offices segment, will be joining Julius Baer on 1 April 2024 from UBS. He is the head of UBS’s global financial intermediaries business and was previously in charge of their Swiss global family office and ultra-high net worth franchise. He started at UBS in 2010 as head of equities for Switzerland, after working at Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs.

The Zurich-listed bank said it is changing its regional structure to get closer to clients and has created a “client strategy and experience” division. The area of human resources will also be represented on the executive board, it said.

Departures
Julius Baer said that Yves Robert-Charrue, head of Switzerland and EMEA, has chosen to leave the bank at the start of next year, leaving the executive board. Beatriz Sanchez, Americas region head, will also step down from the board, as she wants to take on her role of chair of the Americas at Julius Baer next year.

“The unrivalled position that Julius Baer enjoys today in Switzerland, Europe, and the Middle East is an outstanding achievement of Yves Robert-Charrue and his teams. A highly esteemed and valued colleague since 2009, I would like to thank Yves for his leadership and loyalty and wish him the very best for his professional and personal future,” Philipp Rickenbacher, Julius Baer’s chief executive, said. “Betty Sanchez has been invaluable in re-structuring the Americas business and positioning it for renewed growth. I am immensely grateful for her great contribution and delighted that she will continue to work with us in her new role.”

Other new executive board members:

Carlos Recoder Miralles, Americas & Iberia, now head of Western, Northern Europe and Luxembourg at Julius Baer. He joined in 2016 from Credit Suisse, where he started his career in private banking in 1997.

Rahul Malhotra, emerging markets. He is responsible for Julius Baer’s Global India franchise (onshore and non-resident), Japan, and Asian clients served from Switzerland and Japan. He will be mainly based in Dubai. He joined from JP Morgan in 2021.

Sandra Niethen, client strategy and experience, is chief of staff and head of strategy, a role which she has served in since 2020. She has worked in financial services for more than two decades.

Guido Ruoss, chief human resources officer and corporate affairs, has been global head of human resources at Julius Baer since 2015. Previously he was responsible for business and product management in the bank’s investment solutions division. He joined Julius Baer in 2008.

Christoph Hiestand, group general counsel, has been at the Swiss bank since 2001, and general counsel since 2009.