Pictet Loses Two Middle East Wealth Bankers Hired by Collardi
Pictet Loses Two Middle East Wealth Bankers Hired by Collardi
(Bloomberg) --
Banque Pictet & Cie is losing two senior bankers on its Middle East wealth team who were hired by Boris Collardi to grow the bank’s presence in the region.
Saman Habibian, a managing director and head of the Zurich-based Middle East team, and Manuel Sturm, the chief of staff for the Middle East and Africa region, are resigning about a month after Collardi’s abrupt exit from the Geneva-based private bank’s partnership, according to a spokesman for the firm.
Sturm and Habibian had been part of a 17-strong team recruited by Collardi in 2019 from Julius Baer, where he was the CEO for 10 years, to build up Pictet’s Middle East presence in Zurich. The team lead by Daniel Savary, who remains at Pictet, was a loss for Julius Baer at the time. Pictet has around 40 bankers based in Zurich, Geneva, and Dubai who handle rich Middle East clients.
Sturm and Habibian didn’t return requests for comment via LinkedIn.
The resignations follow the departures earlier this month of six private bankers in Pictet’s Latin America wealth team, including its leader Marc Braendlin, according to the people. Collardi had poached a team of 10 from Julius Baer of which only four will remain at Pictet. The Latam departures were first reported by Finews.
Collardi leaving the partnership signaled that he had failed to dispel doubts about his suitability for the top leadership of the 216-year-old private bank. A reprimand in January by Swiss regulators after a money-laundering probe linked to his previous role at Baer raised red flags, as had a perceived culture clash stemming from Collardi’s management style.
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