Four months after leaving ailing Notenstein La Roche, the private bank's former chief executive has resurfaced with a new job at a rival.
Adrian Kuenzi joined the exodus of bankers and executives from Notenstein La Roche last October, when the CEO threw in the towel after five mixed years attempting to revive the Swiss private bank.
On Thursday, Union Bancaire Privée, or UBP, said it is hiring the private banker as its man in Zurich and head of northern European region, effective March 1. He replaces Peter Schmid, who is poised to join Deutsche Bank next month, as finews.com reported exclusively.
Kuenzi spent more than ten years with Wegelin & Cie, before being named head of its successor bank, Notenstein, in 2012. UBP said Kuenzi will be responsible for expanding the Zurich business as well as bolstering the Geneva-based bank's presence in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
Expand Zurich
Zurich is UBP's second-largest branch, after Geneva. The bank has roughly doubled its assets in Zurich in the last five years, in part thanks to the purchase of Coutts' international division in 2015.
In fact, the new job is a promotion for Kuenzi in terms of the sum of assets: UBP manages roughly 27 billion Swiss francs of its 125 billion francs total in Zurich, much of it offshore money. By contrast, Notenstein's roughly 20 billion francs in client assets are mainly from clients in Switzerland.
«Adrian Kuenzi's experience and his large local network will substantially contribute to the expansion of our business and positioning of UBP in Zurich,» overall private bank head Michel Longhini said in a statement.
