In Gilles Stuck, Julius Baer again has a head of the Swiss market, two years after dividing the responsibility for its home turf between Andreas Feller in Zurich, Emmanuel Debon in Geneva, and Ettore Bonsignore in Lugano. Stuck, who led structured finance until now, is to align the strategy.

The about-face suggests that Julius Baer wasn't happy with how coherently its strategy was aligned in Switzerland, where it manages roughly 68 billion Swiss francs ($74 billion) – far less than in Asia or wider Europe. Stuck represents the fourth head of the Swiss market in six years.

Little Transparency

The health of Julius Baer's Swiss business is unknown, as the bank makes qualitative statements only. In July, it said assets rose thanks to financial markets as well as fresh money, revenue climbed and «profitability was well supported».

A spokeswoman said Julius Baer is profitable in its home market and the management change is not the result of missing growth targets. Its assets at home rose by one-fifth on the year in the first six months, according to its financial reporting – meaning Switzerland grew in line with the wider industry.

Short Tenure

The bank has said little as substantial as in 2015, when then-CEO Boris Collardi hired Credit Suisse's Barend Fruithof to better cultivate Julius Baer's home market. Fruithof set about trimming Julius Baer's domestic bankers for growth, a push which quickly evaporated when the outspoken and confident Swiss banker was pushed out a short time later.

Stalwart Gian Rossi took over in 2016 – only to be superfluous when Philipp Rickenbacher took over as CEO two years ago.

Swiss Representation

Despite growing from roughly 40 billion francs in assets under Fruithof's tenure to 68 billion francs currently, Switzerland plays a secondary role in Julius Baer's regional mix. Rickenbacher's streamlining of the Swiss bank's bloated executive ranks saw Switzerland vanish into the wider European region underYves Robert-Charrue.

Stuck, the new Swiss CEO, isn't part of Julius Baer's top management – he will report to Robert-Charrue. The hierarchical organization seems to reflect the growth ambitions of Rickenbacher and Julius Baer: Asia Pacific and Latin America under Jimmy Lee and Beatriz Sanchez, respectively, are part of top management – Switzerland is not.