Several rumors are circulating in Geneva’s finance circles which, if true, would have far-reaching consequences for Swiss private bank Lombard Odier. The bank's lack of prospects for future growth and search for leadership are fertile ground for speculation.
In Geneva, bankers are buzzing with the latest scuttlebutt about Lombard Odier: that Julius Baer could buy part or all of Lombard Odier, which according to several banking sources is reviewing its strategic options. A further rumor is that Baer boss Boris Collardi (pictured below) could join the bank as a managing partner.
finews.ch couldn’t confirm the rumors and, through a spokesman, Collardi didn't comment.
A spokesman for Lombard Odier said of the Collardi speculation: «You are aware that we NEVER comment on speculation about personnel, no matter how absurd the speculation.» On the sale rumors, the spokesman said: «Let me be clear: rubbish!»
Nevertheless, finews.ch was sufficiently intrigued by the talk to take a closer look at one aspect. Here's why Lombard Odier would be savvy to try and attract the Julius Baer boss, and why Collardi could find Lombard Odier an attractive and rare enough challenge to be tackled:
Lombard Odier Desperately Needs New Leadership
The 220-year-old Geneva-based bank suffers from a dramatic dearth of leadership talent. Most notably, the sudden departure of partner Thierry Lombard, which raised eyebrows among bankers, and his subsequent stake purchase in a rival wealth manager, Landolt.
The bank has been on the market for new managing partners, who run the bank, including through international executive search firm Heads!, according to finews.ch inquiries. Specifically, Lombard Odier desperately needs an influential new figurehead, ideally one who can unite the remaining descendants of the founding families, but it will have to look outside.
Impending Retirement of de Weck
Six partners remain following the sudden death early last year of Bernard Droux, who often served as a mediator among Lombard Odier's partners. In addition, the institute’s head of private clients and Grande Dame of Swiss banking Anne-Marie de Weck plans to retire, according to a source, which leaves a gaping hole for the leadership of Lombard Odier’s wealth management arm.
Other high-ranking staff – capital partners such as Olivier Collombin, Jean-Jacques Hamel, Alexis Lombard who could have ascended to managing partners – have also left the bank.
Younger partners who could take on more prominent leadership roles include 41-year-old Frederic Rochat or asset management head Hubert Keller, who is 48. However, neither are seen as potential figureheads: Rochat doesn’t command enormous influence internally, and Keller is perceived as divisive, according to sources at the bank.
Patrick Odier's Next Moves
While Patrick Odier (pictured below) has a lot more time to devote to the bank after stepping down from Switzerland’s banking lobby, he is also already 61, and therefore not ideally suited as a future figurehead for the bank's next generation. He has also just ushered the wider Swiss banking industry through one of the most tumultuous times in its history in his role at the lobby – a role he grudgingly relinquished at the behest of Lombard Odier's other managing partners.
Nearing retirement age, it is safe to assume that Odier is keen to ensure that the bank is passed on to a new generation of able leadership as opposed to committing himself for, say, another decade.
Collardi is specialized in wealth management and respected by clients, he isn't linked to either the Lombard nor the Odier family, and after seven years leading Julius Baer, presumably would have no trouble commanding authority among Lombard Odier's partnership.
Genevois Heritage
Not just speaking French but actually being a true «Romand» is absolutely essential to advance in Lombard Odier, the epitome of Swiss-French finance. Collardi has spent a considerable amount of time in Asia, is married to a Singaporean former banker and travels incessantly for Baer, but he grew up in Nyon, which now belongs to Geneva’s urban sprawl.
As the son of an Italian immigrant father and a journalist mother, Collardi can’t claim exclusive Genevois heritage like the Calvinist families of Odiers, Lombards, and Pictets. Instead he offers a wealth of international exposure as well as vast experience restructuring, managing in crisis, expanding internationally, and running a blue-chip index bank.
Collardi's Influence Is Rising
Collardi’s greater interest in Switzerland’s financial center is clear to observers: he has become vocal about several issues facing the country such as competitiveness, immigration and EU relations, such as in Neue Zuercher Zeitung, the media bastion of business Switzerland. He is also increasingly a voice for the industry as head of the Association of Swiss Asset and Wealth Management Banks, a trade group.
Roles like these illustrate that Collardi has grown from an operations expert preoccupied solely with P&L movements to a more thoughtful banker prepared to go to bat for the wider industry, which is seen as an invaluable asset for Geneva private bankers.
Collardi's Prime
At 41, Collardi is still a spring chicken compared to other Swiss bank CEOs like Sergio Ermotti, Tidjane Thiam or Jacques de Saussure, Senior Partner at Pictet, the Swiss bank most comparable to Lombard Odier.
But Collardi’s youth belies the fact that after taking the top job at Baer early in 2009, he has already surpassed the seven-year mark that many CEOs regard as the average shelf life of a demanding corporate life at the top of a listed firm.
To be sure, Collardi hasn't gone stale: under his leadership Baer has been an aggressive acquirer of private banking assets, one-quarter now come from second home market Asia. For all his activism, it is a credit to Collardi’s youth and engagement that he doesn't appear to have lost much vim and vigor in those seven years.
Collardi was swept into the CEO seat at Baer after the suicide of his friend and long-time mentor, Alex Widmer. If his youth and lack of leadership experience raised eyebrows at the time, Collardi quickly earned plaudits initially for his cost-cutting, then later for Baer’s deal-making prowess. At Baer, Collardi now faces the same type of headwinds that most private banks do: costs, eroding margins, market weakness, client inactivity, and increasing regulation.
Collardi's Career Perspectives
He has always been as intensely private about his career goals as he is ambitious, and even those close to him have been left guessing if Collardi was interested in the top job at either Credit Suisse or UBS. Both posts represent a massive leap from Collardi's current role – he lacks the investment banking and risk management experience typically required to lead an investment bank of either UBS or Credit Suisse's stature, to cite just one example – but both also represent virtually the only career step up in Switzerland that he could take from Baer, at least at a listed company.
However, doors to the C-suite at both banks are virtually shut at the moment for a banker of Collardi's stature: Tidjane Thiam is relatively new in the Credit Suisse top job and, amid numerous trouble spots, enjoys the support of Credit Suisse's board.
At UBS, Ermotti shows little signs of slowing, and even if he does suddenly retreat to Ticino or London, that bank has a deep bench of executives who enjoy investor trust, including private bank head Juerg Zeltner or, further out, former Commerzbank boss and new Swiss hire Martin Blessing.
Very Amused
By contrast, Lombard Odier represents a similarly-sized and potentially more exclusive role to Collardi's current one at a privately-held – and thus truly «private» bank – but one in dramatic need of leadership and growth.
If Collardi were to join Lombard Odier, he would have to buy himself into the existing partnership — presumably not a problem for one of Switzerland’s highest paid private bankers in recent years.
The bank, which is being closely watched for its next move, told finews.ch: «Honestly, we found the rumors very amusing.»
