The American fund giant Vanguard is putting its Swiss business in new hands. The newly appointed head of Switzerland is a well-known name.
Vanguard appointed Roger Bootz as head of business development for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and country head of Switzerland, the US asset manager announced on Monday. Bootz replaces Andreas Zingg, who will focus on multi-asset sales in Europe. Zingg took over from Jacques-Etienne Doerr as country head in 2019.
With Bootz, Vanguard brings on board a well-known name in the Swiss fund industry. The sales professional was once responsible for sales of popular exchange-traded index funds (ETFs) in the European market at UBS. In 2014, he moved to Deutsche Bank subsidiary DWS, at the time operating under the name Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, where he most recently headed sales consulting for Europe.
Vanguard vs Blackrock
In his new role at Vanguard, he reports to Simone Rosti, head of Vanguard's Southern Europe region, and is responsible for developing Vanguard's sales presence in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Rosti previously held the Switzerland head post on an interim basis after Zingg was appointed to his new role last summer.
Vanguard is vying with US competitor Blackrock for global supremacy in the ETF business. Unlike Blackrock, Vanguard is not listed on any stock exchange. The company, which is headquartered in Pennsylvania, has 18,800 employees worldwide and, according to its figures, manages around $7.5 trillion in customer assets.
