People Moves
Pictet Hires Five-Strong Team From Rival

Pictet has reportedly stepped up the battle for private banking talent in regions such as Asia as well as its home market in Switzerland.
Pictet confirmed to
this news service that it has taken on a team of five bankers
from fellow Swiss bank Julius Baer.
The private bank has appointed Pamela Hsu Phua as head of its new
family office unit and she will report to Asia head Claude
Haberer. Phua is a Hong Kong-based managing director.
When asked about the move, a spokesperson for Pictet confirmed
it.
There are four other team members with Phua – their names could
not be confirmed. Phua has worked in the financial services
sector, mainly private banking, for two decades.
In March this year Pictet declined to comment that it was
changing how it pays managers. The Geneva-based bank had been
reportedly stepping up a bid for talent.
Last year private banking was jolted when the former chief
executive of rival bank Julius Baer, Boris Collardi, joined
Pictet as a partner. Pictet has also appointed a number of senior
figures from Julius Baer. Daniel Savary, and 10 other employees
from his team, will join Pictet by June this year.
In a report in November 2018 a report said “bankers spanning the
globe from Miami to Hong Kong have been contacted by Collardi”.
It was also reported that Collardi is focusing on added resources
in Asia.
The reference to Asia, in fact, is a reminder that a few months
ago, Singapore’s private banking talent market was dubbed in one
report as “crazy”, although that remark has also been criticised
as an exaggeration. For all the vaunted vast new wealth of Asia,
some private banks have struggled to achieve critical mass of
business there, selling their Asian businesses to local players
such as OCBC and DBS, for example. Barclays, Societe Generale,
ABN AMRO and ANZ have also sold local Asian wealth arms.