Bernhard Hodler, a member of the executive boards of both the Julius Baer group and its principal operating subsidiary Bank Julius Baer, is to be the bank’s chief operating officer.

Bernhard Hodler, a member of the executive boards of both the Julius Baer group and its principal operating subsidiary Bank Julius Baer, is to be the bank’s chief operating officer.

This newly-created role will “further strengthen the bank’s organisation and the transformation of its business model, facilitating the implementation of its growth strategy,” the firm said in a statement today.

Hodler will be responsible, the bank says, for providing the means to “further align the business model of Bank Julius Baer with the changing private banking landscape.” This means, the statement continued, that he will “provide the framework and resources for the implementation of the bank’s profitable growth strategy.”  This will include responsibility for the global operations as well as for the control and the mitigation of risks, so risk, legal and compliance, IT and operations and shared services report directly to him.

The Swiss private bank has made other recent senior appointments. In early March, it named Peter Siber as chief risk officer for Asia and the Middle East. He was previously head of credit advisory and structuring and deputy group head of credit at the bank’s Zurich headquarters.

In early February, the bank reported a rise in profits, contrasting with some other private banks affected by very low interest rates and other pressures on margins. Julius Baer said its net profit during 2010 rose 6 per cent, year-on-year, to SFr504 million (around $526 million), shrugging off the adverse impact of the Swiss franc’s rise against currencies such as the dollar.