Two top managers at Notenstein La Roche private bank are about to leave as the company is making a series of strategic adjustments.
Notenstein La Roche is reducing the number of executive managers to five from seven as deputy CEO Ivan Adamovich (pictured) and the head of Switzerland, Martin Liebi (pictured below), are leaving the bank, the company said in a statement today. The decisions had been made voluntarily, Notenstein La Roche added.
Both positions have now been cancelled. The private bank is merging three of its divisions into one and has put Christoph Gloor (pictured) in charge of the new unit called Private Banking.
Lean Structures
Hitherto, Notenstein La Roche had three private-banking units: Private Banking Basel, a division that emerged from the takeover of La Roche and was managed by Gloor, Private Banking International under the guidance of Adamovich, and Private Banking Switzerland. CEO Adrian Kuenzi had hired Schroders banker Liebi to manage this unit only last year.
The bank said that it was paramount to keep structures lean and to have clear responsibilities to survive in the tough business of private banking.
Cost Cuts
Notenstein La Roche hasn't had much success recently – and the St. Gallen-based institute isn't alone in struggling to make progress. It has not been able to bolster assets under management in particular.
The bank in June initiated a cost-savings program and cut the number of staff by about a dozen. The management aims to reduce costs to 125 million francs from 135 million.
Structural Development
Making the executive leaner can be seen as a continuation of the savings drive by the bank. And probably more than that: the change will likely be the foundation for a structural development of its business model, according to the statement.
«The bank's structure, processes and service offering are under review to ensure that it is well prepared for the future of private banking,» the bank said in the statement.
Mathis Buettiker (pictured) will join the executive, in charge of the Investment Solutions business.
More to Come
The statement leaves little doubt that the changes at executive level will be but the beginning of further measures intended to make Notenstein La Roche fit for the future «Further information will be released in the coming months.»
With its focus on the Swiss market and assets under management of 21 billion francs, growth seems imperative. Kuenzi wants to boots assets under management to 40 to 50 billion francs. The Swiss market however doesn't offer as much in terms of organic growth, while takeover targets remain scarce.
For now, the bank is focusing on implementing the new Avaloq core-banking platform. The costs will amount to about 30 million francs and the bank hopes to conclude the project by mid-2017.
