Credit Suisse’s organization in Switzerland is taking shape, including notable staff announcements. Among them is the replacement of digital chief Marco Abele, finews.com has learned.
Dagmar Kamber has been the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Zurich-based bank’s Swiss unit for just over two months, but has already taken at least one wide-ranging personnel decision.
She has appointed a head of her COO office, a Chief of Staff, a strategy head, and a new digital head, finews.com has learned. The appointments represent the second layer of new hires, following the overall Swiss unit head Thomas Gottstein's appointments three weeks ago.
Kamber’s digitial appointment is the one likely to make the biggest waves: she is installing Anke Bridge as the head of digital solutions and delivery. Bridge replaces Marco Abele, who has chosen to take on a new role.
The 38-year-old Bridge, a dual Swiss and German national, studied finance and economics in St. Gallen and in Milan. She also has a Masters from Harvard Business School.
She began her bank career in 1997 at Thurgauer Kantonalbank and moved to Credit Suisse two years later. Besides a six-year stint at UBS, the Swiss-German dual national has been at Credit Suisse since then. Her job is to ensure that Credit Suisse’s «digital road map» is introduced and developed.
New Roles
Kamber has also appointed Ralph Halter as head of her COO office, replacing Michael Sager, who served in the role on a temporary basis. Halter will lead the unit’s business support function, among other responsibilities. This makes him the point person to execute divisional programs as well as identify cost-saving measures.
He is also responsible for the budget of information technology «change» portfolio. Sager is taking on a business role with institutional clients.
Inka Hilgenstock is Kamber’s new Chief of Staff. She will report to Halter and become a member of the management committee. Thomas Huerlimann will support Hilgenstock in a transition phase, and subsequently take on a new role in the bank.
Divisional Strategy
As finews.ch (story in German) reported previously on Thursday, Daniel Hunziker has been named head of divisional strategy and projects for the Swiss unit. The head of business projects, Markus Locher, and regulatory initiatives chief, Philipp Hartmann, will both report to Hunziker. The Swiss legal entity program code-named LECH, which went live in November, is also in his responsibility,
Several executives including chief data officer Norman Stuertz, IT and operations chief Mario Crameri, communications and marketing head Beatrice Fischer, and Joerg Rosskopf, responsible for data protection and FLDS, will keep their current roles.
