Pictet’s traditionally conservative private bankers are bracing for a shock as new partner Boris Collardi heads for Asia to address his troops this week. finews.asia feels the pulse.
By Shruti Advani, Guest Contributor finews.asia
Swiss banker Nicolas Pictet rarely asserts the advantage of being the eighth generation to run the eponymous bank. But when the silver-haired and unflappable Pictet scion addressed a staff town hall in Hong Kong earlier this year, he drew heavily on the bank’s 213-year-old history to assure the nervous crowd: «Pictet will not change,» he said, but acknowledged that it stood at a defining moment in its history when either «Pictet would change the man» or «the man would change Pictet».
The man in question is of course Boris Collardi – one of the most storied private bankers and Pictet’s newest partner. His entrance into Pictet’s fabled partner «Salon» meeting room represents a cultural clash of brash youth versus traditionalism, of the bare-knuckled corporate world versus a genteel private bank which prides itself on consensual decision-making.
(Pictet's partners: Boris Collardi, Laurent Ramsey, Remy Best, Bertrand Demole, Renaud de Planta, Nicolas Pictet, and Marc Pictet, photographed by Jillian Edelstein)
Aggression vs Consistency
The battle will play out in Asia, where Pictet has been slow to expand. Already spooked by the surprise exit of 24-year veteran Christian Gellerstad earlier this month, Pictet bankers now are looking for signs of Collardi’s plans from the Swiss banker’s first visit to Singapore and Hong Kong this week.
The 43-year-old Collardi’s calling card has been the aggression he infused into Julius Baer while he was CEO – doubling assets under management during his nine-year reign and cementing the transformation of the staid Swiss manager into a dynamic global player. He did so with bold deals like the 2012 acquisition of Merrill Lynch’s wealth management unit outside the U.S.
And yet, at the time he joined the bank, Nicolas Pictet (pictured above) called Collardi’s appointment a «powerful endorsement» of the bank’s continued strategy of «independence, organic growth and focus on the long term». The institution was not preparing for any quantum leaps.
Measured vs Splashing Out
Onlookers among Pictet’s rivals disagree: «Boris is a big picture guy. You don’t call him in to tweak the plan, you get him to write a new one,» says a senior manager at another Geneva boutique private bank. If Collardi does intend to re-write the plan, he will almost certainly focus on platform – including the bank’s balance sheet – and people.
«If you bring in a new partner after ten years of economic expansion, the only way for him to perform would be to either expand balance sheet or headcount,» the person said. Aggressive hiring in the wealth industry’s most fiercely-contested labor market may inevitably mean tapping Pictet’s flush balance sheet, he notes.
Pictet has always maintained a measured and predictable approach and shunned splashing out money – and the bank hasn’t kept pace with fast growth in Asia as a result. A spokesman for Pictet declined to comment.
Recruiting vs Retaining
A gifted networker and talent spotter, Collardi is direct in his dealings with staff. The unease among Pictet’s rank and file following Gellerstad’s exit has rivals in the region on alert. «I have sent out feelers to a few bankers at Pictet even though in the past they have been resistant to a move» as a result, a headhunter in Hong Kong told finews.asia.
Pictet’s top man in Asia, Claude Haberer, arguably has the most to lose.
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