Pictet's top wealth management banker is resigning his role, finews.asia can reveal exclusively. The move is the first since ex-Julius Baer CEO Boris Collardi started as a partner of the Swiss private bank.
By Shruti Advani, Guest Contributor finews.asia
Christian Gellerstad, the Genevan wealth manager's CEO for global wealth management, has resigned effective September, four people familiar with the matter told finews.asia.
The resignation of Gellerstad, a 24-year veteran of Pictet, an equity partner in the bank and executive committee member, cap several years fraught with change for the 213-year-old blue-blooded Genevan wealth manager.
Most notably, Swiss private banker Boris Collardi began as a partner at the private bank at the beginning of June, nearly seven months after departing the CEO job at listed rival Julius Baer.
Holding Sway
Gellerstad will remain with Pictet, even after relinquishing the wealth management CEO job. Pictet confirmed the move, the timing of which raises the specter that Collardi will bring in a new CEO to serve him at the bank.
The ex-Julius Baer boss is, together with Pictet partner Remy Best, responsible for Pictet's flagship private banking activities. A Pictet spokesman denied Gellerstad's departure is linked with Collardi's arrival, or with the shutter of booking centers for Pictet Asset Services in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Nassau.
Board Roles
Gellerstad will become an board director at Banque Pictet & Cie in Geneva, pending regulatory approval, as well as continue board mandates at bank subsidiaries including its Bahamian trust company, a Luxembourg arm, and its Singapore bank.
Collardi's ex-colleagues are bracing for the possibility that he would dip into an extensive and impressive pool of ex-colleagues, particularly in Asia, where the 43-year-old banker spent part of his career and maintains close ties.
