Vontobel wants to dust off its image as a conservative, dull private bank and is looking for a new breed of employee to help with the shift.
Zeno Staub, Chief Executive of Vontobel, is on a mission and his message to the current and future members of staff is clear. He ordered the human resource department to jazz up the job adverts to attract a new type of banker.
Staub is looking for employees with «people that have an opinion, that challenge our status quo,» he told the «Financial Times» in an interview (behind paywall).
Much Fun to Be Had
The boss of Zurich-based Vontobel said the bank went as a far as using the word «excite» in its blueprint, suggesting that he meant business dusting off the image of the company: «We want to have fun.»
Swiss banking so far has been better known for quality, safety and discretion – attributes that Staub himself embodies as a typical Swiss banker with stellar academic credentials. But being Swiss wasn’t enough to succeed in a fiercely competitive market, Staub said.
Boring Is Fine, But...
Of course, the Swiss values remain important. Honesty, putting customers first, being true to your word, integrity – if those attributes made you a boring person, he was more than happy to be boring, Staub added.
But bankers who never proposed alternatives and always followed the consensus opinion weren’t merely boring, but rather stupid and jaded. Creativity and adherence to the law may sometimes conflict, and Swiss banking has had a fair share of all-too-creative thinking in the past, helping clients avoid paying taxes in their home countries.
Motherly Guidance
In the past ten years, Swiss banks paid $5.5 billion in fines and compensation to the U.S. for misdemeanors. Vontobel wasn’t affected, but the conflict with the German judiciary hasn’t been settled yet.
Staub wants his bankers to avoid banking's grey zones to steer clear of potential conflicts with law enforcement agencies and told them to only do what their mothers would like to read about in the papers the next day.
