What's going on?

According to reports on Tuesday, the CEO of Julius Baer, a major banking group headquartered in Switzerland, has unexpectedly resigned after eight eventful years in charge.

What does this mean?

Boris Colliardi, Julius Baer�s (now former) CEO, is famed in the world of Swiss banking for bulking up his firm while others slimmed down. His tenure saw ING�s Swiss operations and Bank of America�s non-US wealth management unit among the businesses brought under Julius Baer�s wings.


At first glance, Colliardi�s unexpected departure might cast some doubt on that post-2009 strategy! By and large, however, the bank�s finances seem in decent shape, with profits steadily ticking up even as other Swiss bankers struggled.

Why should I care?

For markets: Julius Baer has outperformed many of its Swiss competitors.

Unlike other major banking groups in Switzerland like Credit Suisse or UBS, Julius Baer is focused primarily on managing wealthy people�s money and not investment banking (which includes things like helping big companies raise money). This seems to have worked: since Colliardi has run the bank, its shareholders have seen a return of nearly 88% on their investment, while UBS�s have only seen around 8%.

The bigger picture: We live in a new era for Swiss banking!

Swiss banks were once famed as tax havens for the world�s elite, where airtight laws on banking secrecy allowed dictators and movie stars alike to stash their money away from the taxman�s watchful eye. However, over the last ten years, the country�s banks (including Julius Baer) have been forced to abandon client anonymity and fined by US authorities for helping American citizens dodge paying tax. Today, there are fewer banks in Switzerland than there used to be, and those that remain are more focused on wealth management.