The Julius Baer Group is nominating Caroline Kuhnert and Elaine Arden for election to the board of directors at the annual general meeting in April 2027, the Zurich-based private bank announced in a statement on Tuesday.

With Kuhnert, Julius Baer is bringing additional experience in international wealth management and Swiss private banking onto the board.

20 years at UBS

Kuhnert worked in wealth management at UBS for around 20 years and most recently served on the Global Wealth Management Executive Committee in Zurich.

Over the course of her career, she was responsible for various businesses in Switzerland and internationally. These included Europe, Switzerland, Emerging Europe, the UK, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

She also led the EMEA region’s business with ultra-high-net-worth clients and global family offices. Other focus areas of her work included cross-border risk management and restructurings.

The Austrian-born executive also holds Swiss citizenship and lives in Switzerland.

Transformation at HSBC and RBS

Arden, by contrast, brings above all experience in human resources, corporate culture and the transformation of large banks. Among other roles, she was Director of Group Human Resources at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

There, she was involved in repositioning and downsizing an international banking group that at the time had around 120,000 employees in 30 countries.

She later moved to HSBC, where she accompanied the group’s organisational and strategic transformation with around 220,000 employees in 64 countries and led one of the bank’s major global HR organisations. She retired last year.

Board continues to be reshaped

Board Chairman Noel Quinn had already announced in March that he would strengthen the board with additional expertise while also advancing diversity targets.

Kuhnert is expected to contribute expertise in private banking and the Swiss market, while Arden will complement the board with her experience in large-scale transformations, compensation matters, and talent and succession planning.

Julius Baer plans to announce the exact composition of the board and its committees after the planned elections in March 2027, together with the notice convening the annual general meeting.