Pictet Braces For Collardi Breeze

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«There is room for a leaner structure at Pictet, closer aligned to the one Boris favored at Julius Baer. The question is where is the change going to come in: at the top or at the bottom?» asks the Geneva senior manager.

Pictet insiders have long whispered Nicolas Pictet backs Haberer, a French-born private banker, while Remy Best (pictured above), who oversees Pictet’s wealth unit together with Collardi, decidedly does not. The first few meetings between Haberer and his new boss have not yielded which camp Collardi belongs to.

Haberer, whose job is mainly to hire wisely, has succeeded in part, according to a senior banker at a Hong Kong-based wealth boutique. He has drawn big-name bankers like Hong Kong team head Randy Chu and southeast Asia specialist Grace Barki in the region. «Claude is perhaps the best CEO in the industry to put before a candidate,» explains the head hunter.

Balance Sheet vs Reticence

But Pictet has had mixed results under Haberer (pictured below) in keeping big hires on board: Barki bolted for J.P. Morgan after just two years, and Anuj Khanna’s much-touted appointment as Singapore CEO ended abruptly. His successor, former Goldman Sachs investment banker Dominique Jooris, simply doesn’t have the personal network in private banking required for significant hires. Pictet will look to Collardi, who possesses industry star power and also remains close to a posse of team heads at Julius Baer, to attract others.

At the heart of Pictet’s slow growth in Asia is the Swiss bank’s reticence to use balance sheet. «In Asia, clients do not give private banks money to manage, they give money as collateral against which they expect to borrow,» as one industry source said.

A former employee of Pictet is more blunt: «It is just not possible to work in Asia with a small balance sheet.» Pictet's partners will have to decide whether to put some of their ample capital reserves – including silent ones – towards expanding in Asia.