There was a second suicide at Bank Vontobel

Zürcher Bank Vontobel is considered a dynamic, successful and performance-oriented company. At the same time, due to her family history, she has a reputation for caring for her employees.

The picture contrasts with two suicides. One was unknown until now, it happened two years ago in the Asset Management division, the most profitable division of the financial group.

An experienced manager and family man took his own life in March 2019. According to a source, he is said to have said in a small circle before his death that his superiors would want to talk to him about a job adjustment.

On the day of the scheduled conversation, the man is said to have committed suicide. Bank Vontobel does not comment on this. A spokesman said on request:

“Basically, we urge you to respect the privacy of our employees and their relatives. This also includes refraining from speculating about possible reasons for a death. "

"This also applies to speculations about events that took place several years ago and where the family asked for privacy to be respected."

Almost two years after the incident, another suicide occurred in early 2021. General Counsel Enrico Friz passed away.

Friz was a highly respected partner at the Zurich commercial law firm Walder Wyss. He started at Vontobel at the beginning of 2017 as senior lawyer and sat on the top committee there.

Friz's successor started her job at Vontobel Bank a week ago. It is about a lawyer named Maria-Antonella Bino, who once lost the race against Michael Lauber at the federal prosecutor's office.

Bino switched to banking and became head of compliance at the crypto bank Sygnum a year ago. After just one year, she has now jumped to Vontobel.

"We are very pleased that in Maria-Antonella Bino we have been able to win a legal and compliance expert who is recognized beyond the borders of Switzerland for Vontobel," said a spokesman for the Zürcher Bank when asked why Bino changed fronts so quickly Has.

Suicide often has unfathomable causes, and victims get caught in a tunnel. According to statistics, a total of 1,002 people committed suicide in Switzerland in 2018 , which corresponds to 1.5 percent of all deaths. The canton of Zurich counted a total of 217 suicides in 2017 .

Inside Vontobel, observers are wondering whether the new ruler, Bino, should get to the bottom of the question of a “poisoned” culture within the bank and especially in the area of ​​asset management.

There, CEO Zeno Staub never asked the really tough questions and questioned bosses who are jointly responsible for the working atmosphere.

We are talking about a long-time rope team under ex-asset management boss Axel Schwarzer, whose beneficiaries would have survived all crises despite problems with performance. Even now that Axel Schwarzer had been gone for a few months, they were left in control.

One of them is Roger Merz, who is one of the most influential fund managers in all of Vontobel. Merz 'power is based on the group's emerging markets fund under the “mtx” brand. This alone brings a proud share of the total group profit.

Merz is therefore considered "Untouchable". To question him or even to dismiss him, that was previously unthinkable for Zeno Staub. Merz's track record is streaked through .

The spokesman for Vontobel paints a different picture. “Mr. Merz continues to lead the portfolio management of the mtx Equity team. The products managed by this team have a very good performance and have developed very positively in recent years. "

Christel Rendu de Lint recently started at the top of asset management. Rendu comes from the competition - Pictet, then UBP - and has to keep Vontobel's asset management successful.

The third manager who is decisive for the Vontobel culture is Caroline Knöri. She was brought to the Zurich bank by boss Staub some time ago from Google Switzerland.

According to critics, Knöri has so far turned out to be an obedient executor instead of an independent and courageous critic of any grievances.

"In your email you speak of a toxic culture at Vontobel, and especially at AM," the bank's spokesman stated in his statement. "That is wrong. This is a misleading claim that harms Vontobel. We strongly oppose this. "

"In the most recent anonymous survey of employees by an external professional company, more than 90% of our employees agreed that they were proud to work at Vontobel."

"This value is not only above the values ​​of comparable companies, but is also comparable to a global peer group of companies from various industries that are internationally respected for their attractiveness for employees."