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Handpicked Successor

No wonder: Sauter was 26 when he turned his back on banking to work for Rich in 1983, the same year the commodities trader was indicted in the U.S. for racketeering, tax evasion and Iran dealings. He didn’t return until ten years ago, quietly taking a board seat at Julius Baer. He remained virtually unknown even in Zurich banking circles until 2012, when Raymond Baer, one of the last descendants of the founding family to be operationally involved in the bank, handpicked Sauter as his successor.

Clearly, Sauter isn’t lacking confidence and chutzpah, though he remains a cipher to a wider Swiss public compared to peers like UBS’ Weber. He is fiercely passionate about politics and Switzerland’s place in the world, especially economically and as a business hub. While he encourages Julius Baer bankers to commit to engage in local politics, Sauter himself has rarely ventured into the public eye or granted interviews to financial press. His past ties to Glencore, one of the world’s most hated companies by consumers, makes him ill-suited to peddle policy.

Crisis Staved Off?

The 60-year-old bank chairman now faces his highest-profile challenge: fill the huge void left by Boris Collardi, the long-standing Julius Baer CEO whose imprimatur the bank carries today.

Sauter staved off the immediate crisis by heaving deputy CEO Bernhard Hodler, who is 58, into the top spot, while conceding that the board needs to find a long-term solution. The chairman had planned to step down next year, according to a close source familiar with the matter – which Julius Baer denies.

To be sure, Sauter needs to decide whether Hodler is a CEO for six to 12 months, or an era of three to four years, a veteran of the bank says. Just as he is stuck by his own weaponized rhetoric at Sika, Sauter is now tied to Julius Baer until he can show the CEO vacuum has been filled.