With its new dual management, Vontobel has met all external expectations and requirements. Nevertheless, the solution adopted is not entirely convincing. One person in particular stands to benefit from the new constellation.

The cat's now out of the bag, and the surprise is muted. Hardly anyone had indeed expected the double solution with Georg Schubiger and Christel Rendu de Lint, which was ultimately quite obvious. But there can be no talk of a «coup» or «Rendu-Schubiger effect» on the stock market. The Vontobel share price lost around 2 percent in value during Tuesday trading.

In principle, dual leadership suits everyone and everything. It's an internal solution, so the new bosses can draw on their previous experience and knowledge, and the workforce doesn't have to get involved with a new boss they don't know. Dual management also evokes versatility, and last but not least, the variant chosen includes a woman in the person of Rendu de Lint, which was a major concern of Vontobel's owner's family.

Unnecessary Frictional Losses

In purely operational terms, the management with Rendu de Lint and Schubiger is nevertheless not convincing. This is also the conclusion of Daniel Regli, financial analyst at Zuercher Kantonalbank (ZKB).

«We consider the division of responsibilities to be suboptimal. When companies have co-CEOs, such a constellation often leads to unnecessary friction and longer decision-making paths. In addition, Vontobel has missed the opportunity to hire a CEO with stature and external track record; a breath of fresh air would have done good,» he writes.

The Real Beneficiary

This aptly reflects the assessments in the local financial industry. In addition, dual leadership has never proven itself in the long term, especially in banking. The real beneficiary of this new management structure is ultimately the chairman of the board of directors, Andreas Utermann.

As finews.com wrote earlier, Utermann would have been predestined to take operational control. He brings with him all the qualities and characteristics required for the job, including charisma, expertise, cosmopolitanism, persuasiveness, integrity, and credibility.

Shared Power

But he joined Vontobel last year not as CEO but as Chairman, which is where he intends to remain, he assured finews.com on several occasions. But having as much room for maneuvering as possible is probably not entirely inconvenient for the 100 percent «Executive Chairman». After all, Utermann is a doer who can hardly be imagined only as a figurehead on the supervisory board of a vibrant financial institution.

In this respect, the new two-person leadership comes in very handy for him. This is because the two new CEOs have to share power, which weakens and halves their influence respectively. Utermann can play the two CEOs off against each other should he want to exert a little more influence.

Extraordinary Power

Vontobel has therefore succeeded in meeting all external requirements and expectations with a new management team while at the same time giving the Chairman an extraordinary amount of power.