Departures of high-caliber Credit Suisse bankers are booming. What they're worth to new employer won't become apparent until next year at the earliest.
Patrick Schaad (pictured below) is another long-serving Credit Suisse executive who is moving to the competition in Switzerland. After more than 18 years at Credit Suisse, he joined Zurich-based Vontobel's wealth management division in July, finews.com has learned.
Patrick Schaad, Vontobel (Image: VT)
He's a Senior Client Portfolio Manager for Discretionary Mandates in the Investment Distribution & Client Management Department and is one of more than 50 relationship managers expected to join Vontobel this year, something the company communicated in its half-year results, as also reported by finews.com.
Change Begetting Change
A Vontobel spokesperson told finews.com that, in line with other banks, it will hold further discussions with wealth management professionals serving clients in Switzerland and in selected focus markets in the second half of this year.
Serge Fehr, Lombard Odier (Image: Keystone)
Hardly a week goes by without various financial institutions announcing new appointments. In practice, high-ranking Credit Suisse executives usually attract other colleagues, as the example of Serge Fehr moving from Credit Suisse to Lombard Odier shows.
Sophisticated Precautions
The recent almost inflationary poaching of Credit Suisse relationship managers is risky for the acquiring banks. Not every relationship manager will successfully steer a substantial proportion of their clients to a new employer.
For one, the inertia of Swiss clients in particular is too great. UBS, in particular, has precautions in place to dissuade clients from switching banks, which are important as the integration of Credit Suisse continues.
Around 300 million Francs per Advisor
There is so much reshuffling going on, and the results will become clear only next year in showing how much money flowed between the individual banks, and how successful individual managers were in doing so. Managing and transferring the assets of the very wealthy is a process that can take months.
On average, a relationship manager manages several hundred million francs in client assets, with Vontobel's average at 306 million francs, according to the spokesperson.
Rather Less for the Super-Rich
With this amount, the prerequisites are in place for individual advisors to have enough time to look after each of their clients. As a rule, individual relationship managers look after between 80 and 120 clients.
At private banks and other institutions that primarily serve ultra-high-net-worth individuals with assets of 30 million francs or more, the number of clients per advisor tends to be lower.
