The U.S. bank is bulking up its Zurich presence by hiring a former Deutsche Bank private banker for its family office arm, finews.com has learned.
Thomas Schlaus will join Citi as the bank's Zurich team head as well as part of its north European management. He will report to James Holder, who runs the U.S. bank's family office in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Schlaus is a 20-year veteran of the family office industry, most recently as Deutsche Bank's operating chief for key client partners, in Zurich. Chris Braendli, currently responsible for family offices in Zurich, will merge his team into the new one and report to Schlaus.
Markus von Wallenberg, managing director in Frankfurt, will continue to run Citi's German-speaking European team as well as be responsible for originating and managing business with major German-speaking family offices. The bank intends to deepen ties from Frankfurt to Zurich, given strong commercial links between the two by wealthy German families.
