Bank Vontobel is reinforcing its asset management with a prominent fund expert from UBS.
Vontobel Asset Management said on Tuesday it is hiring Gregor Hirt as the head of its multi-asset solutions business.
He will join the Zurich-based asset management arm in July as a voting member of its investment committee and report to Christophe Bernard, who runs the bank's multi-asset boutique strategies.
Hirt joins from UBS' asset management arm, where he was most recently global chief strategist for multi-asset funds. Prior to that, he was investment chief in Europe and Switzerland for global investment solutions.
Unit's Struggle
UBS' asset management arm has struggled in the shadows of its far larger private bank and investment banking units.
Hirt was a close associate of division head Ulrich Koerner, who aims for 1 billion Swiss francs pre-tax profit from the unit. Like Koerner, Hirt previously worked for Credit Suisse before leaving for British asset manager Schroders before UBS.
His departure is the third high-ranking departure in short order: veteran Swiss fund distribution head Martin Thommen is leaving for Geneva rival Lombard Odier, and hedge fund star Dawn Fitzpatrick left to run George Soros' hedge fund.
