Alex Jagmetti, a Singapore-based private banking veteran and head of Asia at Falcon Private Bank, has left the role after less than a year, amid a wider shake-up of the Swiss bank’s Asian business.

Alex Jagmetti, a Singapore-based private banking veteran and head of Asia-Pacific at Falcon Private Bank, has left the role after less than a year, amid a refocussing of the Swiss bank’s Asian business on Greater China.

Jagmetti, who reportedly left the firm last month, will not be succeeded according to a spokesperson for the bank. “We do not foresee a replacement for the function of head Asia-Pacific in Asia,” said the firm in a statement.

In the new management set-up, James Mok, who was been branch manager in Hong Kong for two years reporting to Jagmetti, will now report directly to chief executive Eduardo Leemann.

Leeman confirmed the bank’s commitment to Asia, although the Singapore office is being run solely as a booking centre, headed by branch manager Jens Sturzenegger. The bank employs 10 in Singapore. 

"It is our ambition to become a leading Swiss private bank focused on emerging markets. Accordingly, we want to keep our existing footprint in Asia, besides our Middle Eastern offices with a strong focus on Greater China (China, Taiwan and Hong Kong),” Eduardo Leemann, Zurich-based chief executive of Falcon Private Bank told WealthBriefingAsia in an emailed statement. 

He added that the bank was eyeing aggressive growth in its Hong Kong division. “The Hong Kong branch is our marketing hub for Greater China. Currently we have 44 staff in our Hong Kong office and we expect to grow this number significantly, hiring relationship managers and best talents in these target markets."

Alex Jagmetti joined Falcon Private Bank in October 2010 as managing director and head of Asia-Pacific. He was previously managing director and head of global investors Asia-Pacific with Switzerland’s UBS in Singapore and Hong Kong from 2005 to 2010. Before this he was managing director and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa for HSBC Private Bank in Singapore. He set up and ran F Van Lanschot Bankiers in Geneva from 1996 to 2001 as branch manager, after having started his wealth management career at Swiss Bank Corporation (now UBS) in Zurich in 1992. It is not clear what role he will pursue next.

Falcon Private Bank was bought by Abu Dhabi-owned investment manager Aabar in 2008, from troubled American insurer AIG. Aabar Investments paid around $273 million for the firm and assumed $104.45 million in debt.

The Zurich-based bank reportedly has assets under management of around $13 billion and some 3,000 high net worth clients, although it does not publish figures. It has aggressive expansion plans in the emerging markets, particularly in the United Arab Emirates where it plans to grow AuM to $1bn by the end of the year from around $600 million in the first quarter of the year.