Beat Wittmann, ex-chief executive Investment Products and member of the executive board of Zurich-based Clariden Leu is to join Julius Baer at the beginning of 2008. “We are confident that Mr. Wittmann will be able to apply his considerable talents with great effect at Bank Julius Baer, and we look forward to his joining,” said Johannes de Gier, group chief executive. Mr Wittmann is the last in a long list of senior executives that have left the Credit Suisse Group recently to join Julius Baer. This includes Alex Widmer, chief executive Private Banking, and Boris Collardi, chief operating officer, at Julius Baer. Messrs Widmer and Collardi have taken the lead in the major restructuring of Bank Julius Baer including the integration of the private banks, Banco di Lugano, Ehinger & Armand von Ernst and Ferrier Lullin, together with specialist asset manager GAM purchased from UBS. The Julius Baer Group claims to be the leading dedicated wealth manager in Switzerland. The group, whose roots date back to the early nineteenth century, concentrates exclusively on the fields of private banking and asset management for private and institutional clients. With more than 3,600 employees worldwide, it managed clients’ assets in excess of SFr360 billion at the end of December 2006 in 30 locations worldwide.