The race for the CEO seat at derivatives firm Leonteq is heating up. While time is stand-in boss Marco Amato's ally, he hasn't quite clinched the job yet. finews.asia reports.
Leonteq has left the worst behind, the Zurich-based structured products boutique telegraphed to investors last month. The troubled firm is likely to return to profitable territory this week, following a major overhaul including ousting its star CEO Jan Schoch (pictured below), reinforcing its board, reining in its outsized spending, and pruning staff.
The firm parachuted its relatively new finance chief, Marco Amato, into the top spot when Schoch left, acrimoniously, in October. Widely viewed as a brilliant next-generation finance thinker, Schoch squandered trust with Leonteq’s investors because the firm often couldn’t follow through on his bold predictions.
Humbler Tone
By contrast, former consultant Amato has adopted a humbler tone from the nakedly ambitious pronouncements of his predecessor, bringing much-needed structure and clarity to an organization which had grown at break-neck speed (click here to read finews.asia’s exclusive interview with him last month).
Investors have had more to cheer since Leonteq pared back: the shares nearly doubled last year. The 36-year-old Amato was slated to give investors a progress report last month, but was replaced on short noticed because he had recently undergone a tonsillectomy.
Marshalling the Troops
Behind the scenes, he has spent a good part of his first 100 days in office marshalling the troops and reassuring clients, including a trip to Asia with high-profile board member Thomas Meier (pictured below).
The Swiss-Italian dual citizen is clearly in the pole position for the job, but hasn’t quite clinched it yet: Leonteq is still interviewing candidates, two sources familiar with the matter told finews.asia. In focus? Internal candidates including Amato, but also outside applicants with experience running a publicly-listed firm who can lay out a ten-year vision for the firm, the person said.
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