Pictet has reportedly stepped up the battle for private banking talent in regions such as Asia as well as its home market in Switzerland.

Pictet confirmed to this news service that it has taken on a team of five bankers from fellow Swiss bank Julius Baer.

The private bank has appointed Pamela Hsu Phua as head of its new family office unit and she will report to Asia head Claude Haberer. Phua is a Hong Kong-based managing director.

When asked about the move, a spokesperson for Pictet confirmed it.

There are four other team members with Phua – their names could not be confirmed. Phua has worked in the financial services sector, mainly private banking, for two decades. 

In March this year Pictet declined to comment that it was changing how it pays managers. The Geneva-based bank had been reportedly stepping up a bid for talent.

Last year private banking was jolted when the former chief executive of rival bank Julius Baer, Boris Collardi, joined Pictet as a partner. Pictet has also appointed a number of senior figures from Julius Baer. Daniel Savary, and 10 other employees from his team, will join Pictet by June this year.

In a report in November 2018 a report said “bankers spanning the globe from Miami to Hong Kong have been contacted by Collardi”. It was also reported that Collardi is focusing on added resources in Asia.

The reference to Asia, in fact, is a reminder that a few months ago, Singapore’s private banking talent market was dubbed in one report as “crazy”, although that remark has also been criticised as an exaggeration. For all the vaunted vast new wealth of Asia, some private banks have struggled to achieve critical mass of business there, selling their Asian businesses to local players such as OCBC and DBS, for example. Barclays, Societe Generale, ABN AMRO and ANZ have also sold local Asian wealth arms.