What surfaced this week about the Swiss Bankers Association has proven true: Vontobel Chairman Herbert Scheidt has been elected the lobby's new president.
The banking lobby said its board voted unanimously to elect Herbert Scheidt its new chairman, effective on September 16.
The 65-year-old replaces private banker Patrick Odier, who decided not to seek a new term in September after seven years at the association.
Scheidt has been chairman of Vontobel since 2011, and will continue in that role alongside his lobby job.
Long Search
«I am very grateful that with Herbert J. Scheidt, a chairman has been elected who has an excellent track record as a banker. I am convinced that Herbert J. Scheidt will lead the association into the future both successfully and in a unified manner,» current Chairman Odier said in a statement.
The search for a successor for Odier was a prolonged one. A three-person search committee under the leadership of Credit Suisse Chairman Urs Rohner had trouble settling on a candidate that could represent the varying interests of all Swiss banks.
Bridge the Gap
The lobby's biggest challenge is to reconcile the often opposing interests of its members into a single voice. Fault-lines across the industry have deepened in recent years between primarily domestically focused banks and those – like UBS, Credit Suisse and Julius Baer – which are far more internationally active.
Incoming chairman Scheidt looks back on a long career in finance. Before Vontobel elected him chairman, he was the Zurich-based bank's CEO from 2002 to 2011. The German-Swiss dual citizen began his career at Deutsche Bank.
