The Swiss bank, which dates its origins back to 1815, has made a number of appointments in recent weeks.

Swiss private bank Bonhôte has appointed two senior figures in its discretionary management arm, based in its Neuchâtel headquarters.

The firm has named Esther Halas Budinsky as product manager and Pascal Maire as portfolio manager. They are both existing members of staff.

Budinsky has worked in financial services for more than 20 years, working at firms such as GE Capital, BCV and Societe Generale. She is also a Swiss fund and saset management officer, and won ESG analyst certification from EFFAS. 

Maire, who has more than 15 years’ experience in private client management, has worked at BNP Paribas, Stonehage Fleming, and most recently, at Credit Suisse in Switzerland.

(Group photo left to right: Bertrand Lemattre, Karine Patron, Julien Stähli, David Zahnd, Ester Halas Budinsky, Pierre François Donze, and Pascal Maire.)

At the end of January, Bonhôte made two senior appointments in its independent asset management department: Nicholas Bader and Olivier Christen. The moves highlighted the importance of the Swiss external asset management (EAM) industry, now operating under a new Swiss regulatory framework.

Founded in 1815, this family-run institution was sold to a financial and industrial holding firm in 1988; in 1992 a group of partners bought it out and returned it to private hands. The executive team consists of Yves de Montmollin, CEO, Olivier Vollenweider and Julien Staehli. Besides its Neuchâtel HQ, the firm has branches in Bern, Biel/Bienne, Geneva, Lausanne, Solothurn and Zurich.