The former and long-standing Asia chief of Julius Baer is leaving the bank,  finews.asia can reveal. Nevertheless, he remains connected to the company for the time being.

Thomas «Tom» Meier , who joined Julius Baer in 2005 and contributed significantly to the bank's rise in Asia in the following years, will leave the company at the end of October 2017 finews.asia has learned from two independent sources. The bank itself will soon make an announcement.

The lawyer, promoted in Zurich, joined the banking sector with Credit Suisse in 1988, where he began his career in Zurich and Lausanne, and later in Singapore and Hong Kong. A short detour in the years 2004 and 2005 led him to Deutsche Bank in Luxembourg, before he joined the Julius-Bär group in November 2005.

From Modest Beginnings to Second Home Market

In the industry, Meier was particularly well-known for establishing the presence of the Zurich financial institution in Asia, where the bank became a leading wealth management institution from humble beginnings within ten years – Julius-Baer CEO Boris Collardi soon recognized the region as a «Second home market».

In fact, about a quarter (almost 80 billion francs) of the total customer deposits managed by Julius Baer are from Asia.

Julius Baer announced in August 2015 as a surprise that Meier had returned to Switzerland at his own request, while the former Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank manager Jimmy Lee Kong Eng took over management in Asia.

Representative Tasks

However, Meier assumed no role in the management in Switzerland, as it was assumed in industry circles, but became a non-executive vice-chairman – a rather representative as operative role within the company, later he became Head Corporate Sutainability.

In Zurich's business circles, Meier was assumed to be a member of the Management Board during the next reorganization at Julius Baer, ​​especially since his expertise and experience are very large. But it did not not happen.

Career as a Board Member?

Meier is going to be departing at the end of October 2017, but remains a member of the board of directors of the Julius Baer Foundation and as a consultant for corporate sustainability issues.

For the time being, Meier who turns 55 this year, does not assume a new operational management functions but might take over some mandates as a board director in the industry. Due to his wide know-how he would hardly lack job offers. He also has other assignments, for example, as a member of the board of the Relief Society in Cambodia, Smiling Gecko .