EFG International Recruits Ex-Coutts Senior Bankers For Eastern Europe, Russia Roles

Tom Burroughes

7 April 2015

, the Swiss private bank, has recruited former senior Coutts managers Michael Vlahovic and Basile Samarine to add to its capabilities in relation to Eastern Europe and Russia. The men are based in Switzerland.

Vlahovic is appointed as managing director, private banking for Eastern Europe and Russia. He will also take on the role of global market coordinator for CEE and Russia. Starting on 1 July 2015, he will report to Adrian Kyriazi, chief executive, continental Europe and head of private banking, Switzerland, the firm said in a statement today.

Vlahovic was formerly at Coutts & Co, from 2010 to 2015, where he was a member of the general management committee with responsibility for the bank's business in Russia/CIS, as well as being chairman of the management committee of its Monaco branch.

Previously, Vlahovic spent 15 years at Credit Suisse where, from 2006 to 2010, he was managing director, head of private banking, covering Russia, Central Europe, Central Asia and Greece, Israel, South Africa, the Nordic countries and the Netherlands.

Samarine will start on 1 June 2015 as managing director of private banking for Eastern Europe and Russia, based in Geneva. He will report to Vlahovic and the head of private banking for Geneva. Samarine was previously at Coutts & Co where, from 2010 to 2015, he was managing director, responsible for the Russia/CIS department in Geneva. Prior to this, from 2006 to 2010, Samarine was head of the Russia/CIS desk at Credit Suisse, Geneva; and from 1998-2006, he worked at UBS, where roles included head of the Russia/CIS desk in London and country head, Eastern European republics, based in Geneva.

EFG International has ambitious plans for Central and Eastern Europe in the coming months, it said.

In late February, EFG International said underlying net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was SFr130.7 million ($137.9 million) in 2014, up by 18 per cent from a year earlier. The firm said reported profit was adversely affected by exceptional legal and professional charges and provisions, resulting in a net IFRS profit attributable to ordinary shareholders of SFr61.1 million. The one-off items included SFr33.7 million in litigation-related charges, as had been previously announced; SFr30 million as related to the US tax programme (EFG said good progress has been made in tackling certain accounts), and SFr5.9 million in legal and professional fees connected to a loan.