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Eric Syz's exit from operational responsibility at the bank he founded more than 20 years ago marks the departure of one of Swiss banking's most unconventional personalities. 

Eric Syz never minces his words. That's why the Swiss banker's views and arguments were easy to follow. If he was often brash and impetuous in manner, Syz is famous for calling it as he sees it, and can argue his case with a conviction unique in private banking.

The straight-forward manner underscored the 61-year-old's independence – he answered to no one but himself – and set him apart from more herd-like colleagues. Earlier on Wednesday, Syz began the retreat from the eponymous bank, ceding the CEO job in favor of wider strategy and promoting one of his two sons in the process.

Fatherly Advice

The son of a wealthy textile industrialist, Syz had to promise his father never to join the same industry: «The business that our family was in at the time had become extremely difficult. The industry as a whole moved to the East in the 60s and 70s», he told finews.com two years ago. 

The son turned to banking instead. «My father’s advice was understandable – we faced a new era», said Syz. His cousins, Hans Syz and Carole Schmied-Syz, control Zurich-based private bank Maerki Baumann.

Rare Privilege

Syz practiced in nearly all facets of finance, including on Wall Street (for Paine Webber, now part of UBS), as a banquier privé in Geneva (with Lombard Odier) and in asset management. He enjoyed the rare privilege – and the necessary financial firepower – of founding his own bank, like contemporaries Reto Ringger or Thomas Matter, in his own mold.

In 1996, when Syz founded the eponymous bank, Swiss banking was flourishing, while developing the complacency which eventually became its Achilles heel. Syz was ahead of his time in recognizing two key changes: Switzerland wouldn't be able to hang onto banking secrecy, and that this would bring performance in wealth management front and center.

Performance vs Avoidance

Against this backdrop, Syz didn't just found a bank, but a firm conceived as an asset manager, he once told finews.com. The approach meant that instead of proffering a Swiss offshore haven, the bank would put expertise and portfolio value at the heart of its strategy.

He also structured Syz as an asset manager as opposed to a private bank – and the first Swiss institute with the levity to use comics in its advertising. Syz once said that it had been paramount to create a structure to enable rapid growth from the start without harming an organization. History would bear him out: Syz quickly took shape – but not without challenges.