HSBC Switzerland is losing two of its most senior private bankers, finews.com has learned. The two fell victim to a shake-up at the British bank.
Prominent Swiss bankers Roger Lehmann and Peter Damisch have lost their current roles at the British banking giant in Switzerland, several sources familiar with the exits told finews.com.
Lehmann is a long-standing Swiss private banker who most recently ran HSBC’s business onshore in Switzerland, its multi-family office, and business with Swiss external asset managers. He is a habitué of the society pages due to his propensity for dating high-profile women.
Damisch is a former consultant with BCG who joined HSBC five years ago; most recently, he co-ran HSBC’s European international arm together with Nick May. He made a name for himself as a close associate to former Swiss CEO Franco Morra: Damisch spearheaded HSBC’s sale in 2014 of $12.5 billion in asset’s to Liechtenstein’s LGT, for example.
The two were shut out in the aftermath of an April restructuring, several sources said. A spokesman for HSBC in Switzerland confirmed both exits, without elaborating. While Lehmann is leaving HSBC altogether, Damisch's fate remains unclear.
Morra, the overall boss of Switzerland, had spent years cleaning up HSBC’s battered Swiss bank, as finews.com has reported previously. Faced with a new structure which curbed his autonomy, Morra elected to leave four months ago.
Scandal Clean-Up
Under Morra, HSBC in Switzerland settled a major criminal investigation in France harkening back to 2009, when banker-turned-whistleblower Hervé Falciani handed over reams of bank documents on alleged French tax cheats to prosecutors in France (the same process which also looms for UBS).
The April restructuring trickled down through the ranks of HSBC’s private bank in the months since then, the sources said. As a result, the top international European role which includes responsibility for the U.K., South Africa, Israel, and Scandinavian markets absorbed the Swiss onshore operation, overseen by Lehmann.
Fight for New Job
Damisch, Lehmann, and May each vied for the top European role. May clinched the job, which he had until then ran together with Damisch. At the overall Swiss bank, finance chief Christophe Guillemot is standing in until Morra has been replaced.
The consolidation and management reduction reflects the importance of private bank to wider HSBC: the British bank has repeatedly backed its business with wealthy clients. However, private banking’s profits are dwarfed by those from investment banking, corporate clients, and retail client activities.
