Banque Heritage founder Carlos Esteve has disclosed his succession plans. The Geneva-based private bank is also losing its chairman, while a long-standing executive takes over in private banking.
Carlos Esteve plans to relinquish the CEO job at the private bank he founded in 1986, the family-controlled bank said in Tuesday. He will join Heritage's board and devote time to issues of governance and strategy, the bank said.
He will be succeeded by his younger brother, Marcos Esteve (pictured below), who has been with the bank for 11 years. One of Esteve's main tasks will be to bolster Heritage, by acquisition or from scratch, the bank said.
Esteve was previously operating chief and finance head before taking on private banking three years ago.
François Oesch, another Heritage veteran, will take on Esteve's private banking job. He has held several roles at Heritage, which has just four locations in Geneva, Zurich, Sion, and Montevideo, including in capital markets and asset management. Oesch has been investment chief for the past five years, and responsible for trading, execution and middle office activities since 2014.
Board Shuffle
At board level, former Clariden Leu boss (pictured below) and Heritage chairman since 2011, won't seek reelection. Swiss lawyer Pierre Alain Schmidt, who has acted as chairman before, will replace him.
Schmidt has been part of Heritage's board since the bank's founding in 1986, without interruption. Groupe Vaudoise chairman and vice-chairman of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, Paul-André Sanglard, was elected to Heritage's board.
Originally intended as the family office for the Esteve clan, which grew rich trading coffee, cocoa and cotton, Heritage clinched a bank license in 2004. The firm now manages 4.7 billion Swiss francs.
