People Moves
Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique's Asia Business Names New CEO
The Swiss private bank's Asia subsidiary has a new CEO, who has arrived two weeks after the overall group announced the appointment of a new chief executive.
Swiss private banking group Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique – now under a new chief executive – has appointed former LGT senior figure Enid Yip as the new CEO of its Asia subsidiary.
At CBH Asia, Yip, who is based in Hong Kong, also heads the Asia regional committee, the bank said in a statement yesterday.
At the same time, Patrick Wong, who has overseen the Asia business since 2017, has been appointed deputy CEO. Wong will continue to manage operations, regulatory and compliance, and IT, while Yip will focus on enhancing the firm’s client offering and driving business development.
Yip, who was most recently with LGT, brings more than 25 years of experience in wealth management institutions in Asia. Prior to LGT, where she served as its CEO, she was a member of the board at Bank J Safra Sarasin.
The CEO of Geneva-headquartered CBH – Simon Benhamou – was appointed to the post about a fortnight ago; he took over from Philippe Cordonier, who has retired.
Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique, whose board chairman is Sylvain Matthey, was founded in 1975. CBH has 309 professionals working in 10 locations around the world. At the end of 31 December 2023, CBH had SFr14.3 billion ($16.5 billion) in client assets, and a 43 per cent Tier 1 capital ratio, making it one of Switzerland’s most highly-capitalised banks, it says.
CBH’s move to increase its Asia business, with a new head installed in Hong Kong, comes at a time when the city has been predicted to overtake Switzerland as the world’s’ biggest cross-border financial hub in the next few years. That is largely down to the continued build-out of the Wealth Connect system driving two-way capital flows between Hong Kong and the mainland, offsetting, to some extent, an exodus of some Western bankers and individuals from Hong Kong.
However, some European private banks have pulled in their horns in Hong Kong. For example, in August, Liechtenstein-headquartered VP Bank, shut its physical presence in Hong Kong in order to focus on Singapore. It established the Hong Kong office in 2006.
