EFG's Classen, Collardi Proposed For Board Seats, Compensation Hike

Editorial Staff

14 September 2022

Prominent private banking figure Boris Collardi, who bought a 3.6 per cent stake in in May, is being proposed as a board member at the Zurich-listed firm.

Collardi would, if his proposal is enacted at an extraordinary general meeting on 6 October, sit alongside Alexander Classen. Classen was made new chair of the firm earlier this year, taking over from Peter Franconi, who decided to step down in October for personal reasons.

“Alexander Classen and Boris Collardi are both proven leaders in the global wealth management sector with extensive experience and deep knowledge of the industry,” the bank said in a statement yesterday.

And the bank said that its board of directors is also proposing to increase its total maximum fixed compensation, subject to Classen and Collardi being appointed.

The EGM will be held without the personal attendance of shareholders, who can vote via an independent proxy, the private bank said.

Classen has served as chief executive and country head of Switzerland of HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) since 2018 and has now resigned from this post, effective 30 September 2022. Prior to that, he was managing partner at Bedrock, an investment and advisory firm based in Geneva. From 2011 to 2015, Classen was CEO of Coutts International. Additionally, he spent four years with Morgan Stanley International as head of private wealth management EMEA and he ran Goldman Sachs Bank Zurich as general manager from 2000 to 2006. At Pictet, where Alexander Classen started his career as a portfolio manager and private banker in 1985, he acted as local CEO in Singapore from 1995 to 2000.

Collardi is a former CEO at Julius Baer, and partner at another Swiss private bank – Pictet.