Appointment likely puts potential tieup with EFG on ice
Shares rise following announcement
Designation welcomed by analysts, new CEO still unknown quantity

ZURICH, July 23 Reuters Julius Baer on Tuesday named Goldman Sachs partner Stefan Bollinger its new CEO, as the Swiss private bank seeks to move on from the multimillion dollar Signa debacle.

Previous chief Philipp Rickenbacher was ousted in February after the wealth manager had to write down 586 million Swiss francs on loans to Signa, the failed property group controlled by Austrian magnate Rene Benko.

Bollinger, cohead of private wealth management for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Goldman Sachs in London, will join Julius Baer no later than Feb. 1, 2025, the Swiss bank said.

The appointment is likely to end any immediate prospect of a potential 15 billion Swiss franc 16.85 billion merger between Julius Baer and its smaller peer EFG International, which had been under discussion, analysts said.

Bank Vontobel analyst Andreas Venditti said while Bollinger39;s appointment had not completely changed the picture, he would need to settle in before any further moves on the deal were likely.

As long as he39;s not in place, and until he39;s got familiar with the job, nothing will happen, Venditti said as he welcomed the appointment.

The respective valuations of the two banks also meant the tieup was currently not optimal for Julius Baer, Venditti added.

Reuters last month reported that Julius Baer and EFG had…