Walter Ernst joins Hypo Vorarlberg’s branch in St. Gallen. He first will take over as head of private banking, before assuming overall control of the Swiss business in 2022, Hypo Vorarlberg said in a statement on Friday.

In an interim phase, Dieter Wildauer will remain in charge of the Swiss unit and lead the business together with Ernst, before handing over at the end of 2021.

Notenstein and Vontobel

Ernst joins the Austrian firm coming from Vontobel, the Zurich-based private bank. At Vontobel, Ernst was managing director in the wealth management division. He joined Vontobel when the Zurich private bank bought Notenstein, where he for a while was head of Western Europe.

Previously, Ernst has head of the German business at St. Galler Kantonalbank, which he joined from Vadian Bank in 2015. At Vadian, Ernst had been the CEO.

Hypo Vorarlberg has been in Switzerland since 1997 and employs some 25 staff in St. Gallen. It provides private banking services, loans to medium- and smaller-sized companies as well as mortgages.