The board of directors of EFG International will propose Boris Collardi and Alexander Classen for election to the board of directors and an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on October 6, the wealth manager said in a statement Tuesday.

The election, subject to shareholder approval, would formalize their positions which had been subject to approval by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma). If elected, they join the board with immediate effect. 

New Chairman

Classen was nominated to be chairman after Peter Fanconi unexpectedly announced in July he would step down and depart at the end of October, as finews.com reported. Classen becomes chairman effective November 1. 

Classen served as CEO and country head for Switzerland at HSBC starting in 2018, and resigned at the end of September 2022, before which he was a managing partner at Bedrock in Geneva. He also worked at Coutts, and Morgan  Stanley, among others, having started his career at Pictet in 1985.

Opening the Wallet

If Collardi and Classen are approved, the owners will decide on an increase in the cap for the aggregate fixed salary of the Board of Directors. By the end of the Annual General Meeting in 2023, this salary component will increase from 3.745 million Swiss francs to 4.145 million francs. When asked by finews.com about the increase, the firm argues that with the temporary increase in the number of board members from eleven to 13, this is a necessary step.

Collardi joined EFG earlier this year after taking a 3.6 percent stake in EFG, which was valued at around 80 million Swiss francs at the time. In 2009 he become CEO of Julius Baer at 34, joining Pictet for a short stint in 2018 where he became one of seven managing partners. He started his career at Credit Suisse. 

The Meeting

The EGM will be held without shareholders attending in person but can exercise their voting rights by independent proxy.