One of the top executives of iShares in Switzerland has decided to leave after eight years at the Blackrock unit. He will join the No. 2 among European index fund managers, finews.com has learned.
Sven Wuerttemberger cut an impressive figure among Swiss fund managers, and with his job as head of the German-speaking region of Switzerland at iShares, he had a position befitting his appearance. iShares is the global leader in passive investments.
Wuerttemberger, who is German, has been with iShares since 2009 and was appointed head of the German-speaking region, Switzerland’s biggest, in 2014. Now he has decided to quit.
Joining the Biggest Rival in Europe
The manager is joining the competition at Blackrock, according to information obtained by finews.com. Wuerttemberg has accepted a new job at Deutsche Bank’s asset management. He will be in charge of passive investments for Switzerland and Israel working at the company's branch in Zurich.
Deutsche Asset Management in Frankfurt confirmed the signing of Wuerttemberger, who will start at his new job on May 2.
Return to the Fold
The move is a return to familiar pastures for Wuerttemberger: he used to be in charge of European sales at Deutsche Bank’s structured products division from 2006 until 2009. Back at Deutsche, he has big plans for the passive investments business at the German giant.
Deutsche Asset Management is the European No. 2 in the ETF business, with well-known brands such as db X-trackers. The German bank now aims to venture deeper into the Swiss markets with those products and will expand its staff accordingly.
Wuerttemberg, who is well-connected in Swiss banking, would appear to be the right person for such an expansion strategy.
