Goldman vet tapped to lead Julius Baer

Dive Brief:

Goldman Sachs partner Stefan Bollinger has been named the new CEO of Julius Baer, the Swiss private bank announced Tuesday. He will take the helm of the bank by Feb. 1, 2025.
A Swiss citizen, Bollinger is Goldman Sachs’s co-head of private wealth management for Europe, Middle East and Africa, and based in London.
Julius Baer’s acting CEO, Nic Dreckmann, will remain in the role until Bollinger joins the bank, according to the release.

Dive Insight:

Bollinger has been at Goldman for 20 years, and a partner for 14. Earlier in his career, he worked at JPMorgan Chase in London, and began his career at Switzerland’s Zuercher Kantonalbank.

Goldman’s EMEA private wealth management business doubled its assets over the five years Bollinger served as co-head, Julius Baer noted in the release.

Stefan, Bollinger, next CEO of Swiss private bank Julius Baer, is pictured — Stefan Bollinger

Permission granted by Julius Baer

Bollinger “has an excellent track record in global banking and wealth management,” and was “instrumental” in growing Goldman’s presence in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Romeo Lacher, Julius Baer’s board chair, said in the release. “Stefan led and built outstanding businesses, most of them at the intersection of wealth management and capital markets.”

The bank’s selection of Bollinger after a “comprehensive search” comes nearly six months after Philipp Rickenbacher exited the CEO post. Rickenbacher’s departure followed Julius Baer’s disclosure that its 2023 profit took a hit from a $700 million exposure to now-bankrupt Austrian property magnate René Benko and his real estate firm Signa Holding, Bloomberg reported.

The private bank, which also exited the private debt business this year, aims to distance itself from the Signa debacle.

“Under Stefan’s leadership, we will future-proof Julius Baer as the leading pure-play private bank, and create the best conditions for sustainable growth,” Lacher said.

The bank had about 471 billion Swiss francs ($528 billion) in assets under management, as of the end of April, a spokesperson said.

Although Bollinger has been based in global hubs such as New York, Hong Kong and London during his 30 years in financial services, he “does not have experience running a large, public company such as Baer and does not seem to have a great deal of Asian experience (a key growth pillar),” Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said in a research note, according to Reuters.