BCV's Board of Directors has appointed Stefan Bichsel to the Bank's Executive Board as head of the new Asset Management & Trading Division* following the reorganization of the Bank that was announced in November 2008. Mr. Bichsel, who has wide experience in institutional asset management, will lead the targeted expansion in this area in accordance with the Bank's new strategy.
A new front-line division with a sharper focus on clients
In keeping with BCV's revised strategy, the new division will encompass institutional asset management, investment policy and trading activities and will be one of the Bank's four front-line divisions, all of which are strongly client oriented. Under the new organization, BCV aims to continuously expand its institutional asset management operations. The Bank also seeks to boost trading activities by focusing on client needs and commercial flows while reducing proprietary risk-taking in trading activities. With the broad experience he has acquired in institutional asset management both in Switzerland and abroad, Mr. Bichsel is ideally suited to lead BCV's targeted expansion in this area. He will take up his position on 1 May 2009.
A top-flight banking professional
Mr. Bichsel trained as a lawyer and has more than 25 years of experience in banking. He started his career at UBS before joining the bank Pictet & Cie., where he worked in the area of investment funds. In 1994 Mr. Bichsel was appointed as the first CEO of Swissca Holding AG (now Swisscanto), and it was thanks to his entrepreneurial leadership that this company became the institutional fund provider for the Swiss cantonal banks. During this time he also gained experience in trading, at Swissca Holding’s subsidiary in London. Mr. Bichsel joined the Management Board of Robeco Group (Rotterdam) in 2002, where he gained further executive banking experience by managing more than 1,000 employees around the world. Since 2006, Mr. Bichsel has worked at Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch Group as a partner in the holding group, developing the bank's international institutional asset management operations. He has also served as chairman of the boards of the Swiss Funds Association (SFA) and the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), reflecting his longstanding commitment to promoting these activities.
A perfect fit
Mr. Bichsel is the ideal candidate for the position at BCV thanks to the breadth of his banking experience both within Switzerland and abroad, together with his in-depth knowledge of cantonal banks and private banks and his proven entrepreneurial flair. Mr. Bichsel, a Swiss citizen, was born in 1955, and is married. He speaks French, German and English. Following law studies in Lausanne, Bern and New York, he earned his credentials as a lawyer in both Switzerland and the United States. He holds a Master of Laws from Georgetown University in Washington DC and is a member of the bar in both New York and Connecticut. He has also completed the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton School in Philadelphia.
Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 April 2009
* The name of the new division is provisional.
Contacts
Christian Jacot-Descombes, Press Officer
Phone + 41 21 212 28 61
E-Mail christian.jacot-descombes@bcv.ch
Wilhelm Blaeuer, Investor relations
Phone + 41 21 212 20 71
E-Mail wilhelm.blaeuer@bcv.ch
This press release is being issued outside the trading hours of the SIX, Swiss Exchange in order to comply with the principles of ad hoc disclosure pursuant to the SIX listing rules.
The above text is a translation of the original French document; only the French version is authoritative.