As part of a strategic change, Vontobel is shutting onshore private banking in Dubai and bring operations back to Switzerland.

Swiss private bank Vontobel is shutting onshore private banking and
wealth management operations in Dubai and
transferring them to Geneva, while investment
banking and related services will continue to operate from the Middle East jurisdiction.

There have been redundancies in Dubai this week at the Zurich-headquartered
bank, a source, who asked not to be named, told this publication, although no
exact figure was given. A spokesperson for Vontobel did not comment on specific
numbers but said activities were being switched to Switzerland as part of a strategic
change.

This summer, Lionel Pilloud will be appointed the new head
of the Geneva
branch, taking over from Jean-Pierre de Glutz, who is retiring from the post in
July, the bank said in a statement. Pilloud has spent the last 12 years managing
the advisory business for French-speaking Switzerland within the financial products
division of the firm.

"Lionel Pilloud has an in-depth knowledge of our areas
of expertise as well as our service and advisory approach, and he understands
the high expectations of our clients. He will implement and further develop our
Group-wide activities in our Swiss home market as well as the cross-border
initiative in the private banking business unit in the French-speaking region,”
Georg Schubiger, head of private banking, said.

"Our first priority is to ensure that we systematically
focus on our clients. We are therefore also implementing our proven cross-border
approach in Geneva – especially for wealthy
private clients from the Middle East who traditionally have strong ties with
the financial centre in the French-speaking region of Switzerland – and we are exiting the onshore
business in Dubai.
This measure will enable us to concentrate even more intensively on individual
client needs, service quality and investment

Expertise,”
Schubiger said.  

Changes, alliances

Vontobel has made a number of changes in recent months. It
is combining cross-border and onshore activities in its private banking
business with German clients. Chief executive Zeno Staub has said that this
move will ensure an “optimised market and client focus and will also create
synergy potential.” Operational responsibility for Private Banking Germany has
been assigned to Roland Rötheli, who was heading the Zurich-based business with
German clients. Meanwhile, Vontobel last year signed an agreement with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, under
which Vontobel will expand its activities in Asia-Pacific – primarily in the
growth markets of Australia,
New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.

In this agreement, Vontobel will provide expertise in global
investments, structured products and tools, client advisory and client
processes to the private banking business of ANZ. ANZ, which aims to grow its
own private banking business in Asia-Pacific, wants to use Vontobel's expertise
in the areas of investment management and structured products, as well as its
advisory services for wealthy ANZ private clients.

The bank said Geneva
is a “key location for Vontobel as part of its defined home market strategy”.

As of 31 December 2012, Vontobel held SFr150 billion ($160.9
billion) of assets and employees around 1,400 staff worldwide.