Two former La Roche partners are defecting to a rival after abruptly exiting the Swiss wealth manager which acquired them last year, finews.com has learned. It will be the duo's third station in four years.
Two of four partners of the centuries-old La Roche who shocked Vontobel with their exit three months ago are now hiring on at Gutzwiller, the Basel-based wealth manager told finews.com on Monday. Wealth managers Philip Baumann and Urs Gloor will join Gutzwiller as partners from October.
«They will actively contribute to further develop our family-led banking house from October 1,» Gutzwiller said in an email. The 133-year-old private bank is one of just five truly «banquier privé» houses left in Switzerland, where partners vouch for the solidity of the bank with their personal assets.
Currently run by four partners – Peter Handschin, Stéphane Gutzwiller, François Gutzwiller, Archduke Lorenz von Habsburg Lothringen pictured above (from left) – Gutzwiller's assets under management aren't disclosed. It employs roughly 80 staff and has a $500,000 minimum to open an account.
Sought Shelter
Baumann, Gloor, and their La Roche partners, Mathis Buettiker and Christoph Gloor, have been looking for shelter since leaving Vontobel immediately after receiving bonuses and premia earlier this year, as finews.com reported exclusively. The partners had apparently had enough of the cultural clash between partner-run private banks and publicly-listed wealth managers.
The value of the partners is not just – or even less so – their clients, but their own personal wealth. The four erstwhile partners reportedly control roughly 2 billion francs ($2.05 billion) in assets – a fair share of it their own funds. The Gloors, Buettiker, and Baumann collected immense wealth in the course of several trade sales, and rivals were keen to tie them down as partners as well as clients.
Perils of M&A
The carefully calculated exit of the four La Roche partners illustrates the perils of private banking mergers. Founded in 1787, La Roche sold itself in 2015 to Notenstein – which rose from the ashes of disgraced Swiss bank Wegelin. Last year, Notenstein La Roche was sold to Vontobel – setting off a game of hopscotch for clients and assets.
In 2015, they earned a collective 60 million francs when they sold the bank to Notenstein. Last year, the partners were in for another payday – this time from Raiffeisen, which paid the four partners high retention bonuses for joining Vontobel. The Zurich-based bank, in turn, also ponied up loyalty payments in order to retain the quartet.
