Boris Collardi Exits Pictet

Pictet said Boris Collardi is leaving its seven-person partnership after just over three years.

Partner and co-head of wealth management at Geneva-based wealth manager Pictet Boris Collardi is leaving at the end of this month, the company said in a statement on Wednesday alongside its first-half results.

«Following careful consideration, including discussions with the board of partners, Boris Collardi has decided that he will step down from his role as a partner and leave Pictet effective September 1, 2021,» Pictet said. It didn't elaborate on the specific reasons and thanked Collardi. 

Tumultuous Tenure

This brings to a close three tumultuous years at Pictet, following nine years at the helm at Julius Baer. «We look forward to continuing our consistent performance across the group, pursuing our existing strategy for the long-term interests of our clients and the firm,» senior managing partner Renaud de Planta said.

The 47-year-old Swiss was reprimanded in January by Swiss financial regulator Finma over Julius Baer's dealings with Venezuela and FIFA, world soccer's governing body, during his leadership. A preliminary investigation into potential criminal behavior was closed in June, a spokesman for Zurich's prosecutor told finews.com on Wednesday.

Vaulted Into Spotlight

Under Collardi, who co-ran Pictet's business with the wealthy first together with Remy Best and more recently with Marc Pictet, the wealth manager hired dozens of private bankers, particularly in Asia. Many were former associates of Collardi's poached from Julius Baer, like an 18-strong Middle East team late in 2018.

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(Pictet partners, from left: Rémy Best, Laurent Ramsey, Bertrand Demole, Renaud de Planta, Marc Pictet, Sébastien Eisinger, Boris Collardi)

A spokesman for Collardi, whose star power vaulted blue-blooded Pictet into a frequently unwelcome spotlight, didn't comment. The departure of the high-profile banker comes as Pictet widens the partnership with Elif Aktuğ – its first female partner – and François Pictet.

Wealth, Prestige

If it was a coup for Pictet to land Collardi in 2018, the private partnership offers affluence and prestige far beyond what Julius Baer or Credit Suisse, where he previously worked, could ever offer. Like other partners, Collardi bought equity in Pictet, which had a profit of 577 million Swiss francs ($632 million) last year, when he joined.

This equity is paid off over decades in the partnership – versus the three years and three months Collardi will ultimately spend at Pictet. A person familiar with Collardi's thinking said the banker hadn't intended such a short tenure at the bank, but that the dissolution of his partnership with Pictet was not acrimonious.