Altlasten und kein Ende: Der neue Bär-Chef muss sich gedulden mit dem Neustart

The new Bär CEO, Stefan Bollinger, must endure the restart of Julius Bär after a sanctions procedure against the bank comes to light. Despite the restrictions, Bollinger is pleased, as the bank was only released under conditions. In 2019, Julius Bär aggressively entered the Russian market, with the former regional CEO aiming to win over 200 wealthy Russian clients and hire additional customer advisors.

This move went against the trend, as other western banks withdrew staff from Russia following the annexation of Crimea, including UBS and Credit Suisse. The Financial Market Authority (Finma) has now publicly announced the closure of a procedure against Julius Bär, criticizing the bank's "very high risk appetite" and its lack of transparency regarding the origin of assets.

The investigation focuses on two "politically exposed persons" from Russia and their connections to Julius Bär. The bank had ignored its own rules and even exceeded them by making an exception for a new customer, citing a personal recommendation from a bank employee. The identity of the problematic Russian clients remains unclear, but it is believed that some of them had close ties to political circles and even to the Lukashenko regime.

The former Russia boss has since left the bank and is now active in Dubai. The bank has emphasized that Bollinger left of his own accord for personal reasons. Julius Bär sees these past issues as liabilities they want to leave behind. The former CEO joined Bär at the start of 2025 to clean up the bank, and the Finma closure is seen as a significant milestone confirming the efforts made over the past twenty months.

However, new conditions have been imposed, requiring the bank to submit reports on risk, error, and compliance culture to Finma until 2032. This is exceptionally rare, as the Finma has initiated five enforcement procedures against Julius Bär in the past decade. In addition to the money laundering breach, Bär is also linked to the Signa scandal, where the bank issued eight loans to Austrian property developer René Benko between 2019 and 2023.

Despite earning millions from Benko, the bank had to write off around 600 million francs when Signa went bankrupt in late 2023. Bollinger and former CEO Philipp Rickenbacher lost their jobs due to their involvement in the scandal.