Daniel Sauter, the chairman of Swiss private bank Julius Baer, is reportedly weighing whether to resign. He wants to draw a line under the past.
Daniel Sauter has been a director of the Zurich-based bank for 12 years and presided the board for the past six. Now, he is considering whether to stand down, according to «SonntagsZeitung» (in German, behind paywall). The Swiss weekly cites people close to Sauter with the information.
The 61-year-old is looking to break with the past and the era of Boris Collardi, the charismatic CEO who blindsided the bank one year ago by defecting to rival Pictet. Julius Baer is currently paying the price for the heady expansion overseen by Collardi and Sauter since 2009.
Massive Problems
Sauter and Collardi orchestrated the strategy to grow mainly in Asia and Latin America, but Julius Baer's compliance appears not to have kept pace with the rapid expansion. The bank is in trouble over its Latin American business, where a former banker was sentenced in October as part of a Venezuelan graft probe.
Due to this and for other reasons, Sauter plans to not stand for reelection at Julius Baer's shareholder meeting in spring, the newspaper reports. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment.
