The Swiss wealth manager's key shareholder, Greece's wealthy Latsis family, is handing over to the third generation.
EFG International director Spiros Latsis won't stand for reelection in April, the Swiss bank said in a statement on Wednesday. The 74-year-old's exit marks the handover to the third generation of the ultra-rich Greek shipping family: Spiros' son, John Latsis, a professor of business in the U.K. until last year, joined EFG's board two years ago.
Though a Geneva-based vehicle, the Latsis family controls nearly 45 percent of EFG. Brazil's BTG Pactual owns after nearly 29 percent, the result of a deal between the two lenders over Banca Svizzera della Italiana in 2016. BTG Pactual is keen to offload the stake, as finews.asia reported last year.
Safra Family Veteran
Besides the generational handover, EFG said it is proposing veteran banker Ilam Hayim to join its board in December. The bank needs to hold a shareholder meeting next month in order to pay out the second tranche of a staggered dividend payment from last year. Hayim is a long-standing associate of Brazil's wealthy Safra family who presided over J. Safra Sarasin, its Swiss private bank, until last year.
Besides the board-level and family changes, EFG said risk boss Raj Singh is exiting next month. A replacement for top executive Singh, who joined last year, will be disclosed shortly, the bank said.
The changes were unveiled as part of EFG's proposal to go ahead with last year's shareholder payout, which it was forced to postpone when the pandemic hit. Instead of paying the dividend of 0.30 franc per share in one go, EFG is paying in two equal parts.
Cost Cuts Vs Fresh Money
EFG also said it took in fresh assets towards the top end of its target, meaning nearly six percent against its existing assets. Those rose to 151.3 billion Swiss francs in the third quarter, from 147.8 billion francs in June.
The bank successfully kept a lid on its spending: its cost-income ratio fell to 80 percent from 86 percent in the first half. It did so in large part thanks to cost-cutting like pulling out of Guernsey and selling business elsewhere.
