The bank is expanding its breanch in response to the growing needs clients who often have complex financial requirements.

Julius Baer is continuing to expand its Swiss home market with new hires at its Basel branch, the Zurich-listed private bank said yesterday.

Gabriele Klass has joined as a relationship manager; today, André Giehl will take over as head of a local high net worth relationship manager team; and on 1 August, Salvatore Cuppuleri will also start as a relationship manager in Basel.

Klass (pictured) has more than 28 years of experience in the financial industry. She joined from Basler Kantonalbank, where she worked in private banking as a relationship manager for UHNW individuals and corporate clients for four years. Prior to that, she worked at other financial institutions in Basel, including UBS, Credit Suisse, and Bank Safra Sarasin. Klass holds a lic.iur. degree from the University of Basel and is a certified financial advisor.

Financial expert, André Giehl has worked for Credit Suisse for around 13 years, mainly in Basel, including 11 years as a client advisor in private banking, primarily for UHNW clients as well as for entrepreneurs and executives. Giehl is a certified Wealth Management Advisor (CWMA) of the Swiss Association of Quality.

Salvatore Cuppuleri has worked in the financial industry for more than 25 years. After five years in management positions at Raiffeisenbank Möhlin, he worked in a variety of roles in private banking at Neue Aargauer Bank, including deputy head of private banking Fricktal from 2009 to 2020. For the past two years, he has been a client advisor in private banking at Credit Suisse. Cuppuleri has a federal diploma in financial planning.

Thorsten Hartmann, branch manager of Julius Baer in Basel, said: “I am very pleased that we can further strengthen our position in and around Basel with Gabriele Klass, André Giehl, and Salvatore Cuppuleri – all three very experienced, competent and locally well-connected professionals. With this reinforcement, we are responding to the growing needs of our clients with complex financial situations, serving them even better and more holistically in the entire area of Basel in the future.”

In recent comings and goings, the bank in early May said Marcel Suhner has taken over as Julius Baer head of intermediaries for the German- and Italian-speaking Swiss market. Together with the local teams, he is responsible for serving the bank’s intermediaries clients in these Swiss regional markets. Suhner filled the slot left vacant by Michael Yigit, who joined LGT in Switzerland, as separately announced by LGT.

A week ago, Julius Baer said its assets under management rose 1 per cent from the start of 2023 to stand at SFr429 billion ($475.9 billion) at the end of April, driven by positive market performance and net new money inflows. There was some negative impact as the Swiss franc appreciated against the dollar – a trend that accelerated in April.