The Swiss bank announced a number of moves linked to managing wealthy Indian and other clients.

Julius Baer said it is strengthening its global India and domestic markets franchise with a new team, taking effect from 1 September. The appointments continue a run of India- and Asia-focused moves by the firm.

Tarun Jalali, formerly of Emirates NBD Private Bank, is joining the Zurich-based firm as group head for non-resident India business in Dubai. He is succeeding Kunal Sumaya. 

At Emirates NBD Private Bank, Jalali worked for about seven years, most recently as head of Global South Asia Business and Africa. Prior to that, he was the head of the UAE Premiere Banking business at HSBC and a Citigold relationship manager for the NRI market. 

Jalali, who will be based in Dubai, will report to Rahul Malhotra (pictured), head of private banking for Global India and Developed Markets.

In other moves, Michael Baechli, group head for NRI business and Japan Singapore head, has decided to relocate back to Switzerland. He spent more than 15 years with the bank in multiple locations including Switzerland, Dubai and Singapore and served as group head covering the Global Indian business in Dubai from 2011 to 2016. In 2018, he moved to Singapore and assumed his current roles. 

Kunal Sumaya will move to Singapore to assume Baechli’s role as a group head of Global India and Japan Singapore. He will continue to report to Malhotra. During his 13-year tenure at Julius Baer, he has been “instrumental in the growth of the GIDM business across its two key business hubs of Singapore and Dubai,” the bank said.

There have been several Asia and India moves for the Swiss bank in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, it appointed Umang Papneja as the new chief executive of Julius Baer India, starting from August. Shitin Desai, meanwhile, retired from the board of Julius Baer Wealth Advisors (India) following more than three decades as the founding member of DSP Investments and later holding senior positions across Merrill Lynch and Julius Baer India.

The lender also appointed Andrew Lee, who has been group head of Southeast Asia, to take on a new role as vice chairman of Southeast Asia, starting from 1 August. Vi Sun Yang joined in July as a group head of Southeast Asia, succeeding Lee. Shui Wei Ho is joining on 1 August, also as a group head of Southeast Asia. Ho is an established banker with over 25 years of experience in the financial industry. Ho was most recently with Bank of Singapore where she was the market head for Thailand and Indochina.

Earlier this week, Julius Baer said pre-tax profit, on an IFRS accounting basis, fell 27 per cent to SFr513 million ($532 million) in the first half of 2022, while IFRS net profit attributable to shareholders fell 26 per cent to SFr451 million. Results were affected by a large rise in provisions and losses following the settlement of a legacy litigation case.