Julius Baer only revealed its expansion plans for the U.K. last week, but boss Boris Collardi is already actively luring key staff from British competitors.

The Zurich-based Julius Baer CEO Boris Collardi is well known for acting swiftly when it comes to the hiring of qualified staff, and he has lived up to this reputation in the U.K.

There, the Swiss private bank has hired eight bankers, all from their British rival Barclays, news portal «Citywire» reports.

Among those lured from Barclays is the former head of its Leeds operation, Martin Cuthbert, as well as Callum Brewster, head of Barclays North. Additional Barclays staff from its branches in Glasgow, Manchester and Belfast are moving to Julius Baer.

Well-informed sources claim the hiring offensive will continue as Julius Baer tries to hire qualified staff to drive its expansion in the north of the country. 

Julius Baer declined to comment to finews.asia on the hiring of Barclays staff, although Barclays did confirm the departure of some of its private banking staff, without naming them, according to «Citywire».

30 Extra Bankers

The hiring drive follows finews.asia's recent reporting of Julius Baer’s plan to expand outside of London and the south east of England, the traditional location for banks targeting wealthy individuals.

The Swiss bank plans to open branches in Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow, and will form a small team in Belfast, all by the end of the year.

Julius Baer will need around 30 extra staff to man the expansion in the north of the U.K., where some two-thirds of the country’s wealthy individuals are located.

A Hub for High Wealth Individuals

At the same time the number of multi-millionaires in the City of London is expected to increase by around 30 percent to more than 6,000, and this despite the U.K.’s planned exit from the European Union, according to Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2017 .

This growth perspective is also luring other Swiss banks, with both UBS und Credit Suisse looking to hire additional private banking staff for their U.K. operations.  

Geneva-based private banks Pictet und Lombard Odier are also eyeing the potentially lucrative British market.