Zurich-based private bank Vontobel has hired an entire team of relationship managers in Germany. They worked for a bank whose name is no longer in use.

Sal. Oppenheim, private bank since 1789: with this proud batch the German institute approached its rich clientele for centuries. No longer. Since June, almost 230 years of banking tradition has ended – Sal. Oppenheim has stopped being active in wealth management (in German).

Its rich clients have been moved to the wealth management business of its owner – Deutsche Bank. Institutional clients were shifted to DWS, the fund division of Deutsche.

Joining a Rival

Not all of Sal. Oppenheim’s relationship managers moved along. Victor Lindner and Thomas Riecken have joined Zurich-based Vontobel and started working at the Munich branch in July, according to a statement by the Swiss bank.

Lindner and Riecken used to work for Sal. Oppenheim in Munich. Doris Lemke and Olaf Bauermeister, two of their former colleagues, will join them at Vontobel in October.

Lemke used to manage the Munich branch of Sal. Oppenheim. She will take charge of the business in Munich and report to Thomas Fischer as member of the local executive committee.

Hamburg Hiring

In Hamburg, Vontobel also hired a new banker, but from another company. Stella Christina Streckwall, an asset management expert, joins from Oddo BHF and will start working in the business with rich clients in the city. Oddo BHF was the result of the takeover of BHF Bank by Oddo Group in 2017.

With the additions, Vontobel now has more than 20 relationship managers working in Zurich. The business is profitable, according to the company.