Julius Baer’s has named Nic Dreckmann as the replacement for CEO Philipp Rickenbacher. The new interim chief is expected to leverage his experience in Asia, often called the bank’s «second home».
Julius Baer CEO Philipp Rickenbacher has officially stepped down and current deputy Nic Dreckmann will take over as interim CEO, according to an announcement of the bank’s 2023 results. This coincides with a 55 percent profit plunge and 606 million Swiss francs ($701 million) in net credit losses, widely believed to be related to European property group Signa.
While the new interim chief has mainly held global positions during his time at the bank, he has also accumulated familiarity with APAC on the ground. finews.asia reviews some of his notable experiences in the region.
IT Veteran
Dreckmann is a renowned technocrat with an existing role as the bank’s chief operating officer. Prior to joining Julius Baer in 2004, he also worked at IT consulting firm Accenture as a business project manager for four years.
Within Asia, he specifically led the migration of Julius Baer’s core banking system to Temenos WealthSuite in 2018. He also led the partnership with Swiss crypto bank SEBA (recently rebranded as Amina Bank) which could play a role given the region’s growing enthusiasm for digital assets.
Not Just Tech
Dreckmann’s experience in Asia is not limited to just technology. He was previously tasked with overseeing Julius Baer’s joint venture with Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank. The venture, SCB Julius Baer, doubled its assets under management in 2020 amid a pandemic before announcing an ambitious target of further achieving 1 trillion Thai baht ($28 billion) in AUM in five years.
«With the appointment of Nic Dreckmann as CEO ad interim, we are ensuring the utmost continuity for all our stakeholders. [His] experience working in Asia also adds to his intricate understanding of our international business and the wealth management landscape of our second home market,» commented Julius Baer chairman Romeo Lacher.
