J. Safra Sarasin has hired a handful of private bankers from rival pure-plays, including Julius Baer, finews.asia has learned. 

A handful of former Julius Baer private bankers have joined J. Safra Sarasin, sources told finews.asia, specifically in its client advisory unit in Singapore.

J. Safra Sarasin appoints Michael Leutwyler as managing director, client advisory. Leutwyler was most recently working at Julius Baer, where he spent eight years, last as a managing director senior advisor. Previously, he also worked at Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and UBS.

The bank has also hired Rupesh Singh as a managing director in the unit after he, too, spent eight years at Julius Baer as a former managing director senior advisor. Prior to that, he worked at ANZ, HSBC, Citi and ABN AMRO.

Former Julius Baer Bankers

Outside of the managing director level, the Swiss-Brazilian private bank hired Julius Baer alumni Ashvin Kumar as executive director and Nitin Sachdeva as director in Singapore. 

Kumar was most recently the head of operations at Indorama Investment Advisors, Singapore after a five-year stint with Julius Baer. Previously, he also worked at UBS, HSBC, Barclays, Citi and ABN AMRO.

Sachdeva was most recently with Julius and previously worked at Standard Chartered, Citi and HSBC.

Singapore Operations

In addition to Julius Baer, J. Safra Sarasin also hired from another rival pure-play in EFG, namely its ex-head of operations in Singapore, Bernard Tan, for the same role. Tan previously worked at the former BSI, BNP Paribas and Morgan Stanley.

A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the new hires.