Julius Baer Announces New CEO For Julius Baer India

Julius Baer, the leading Swiss wealth management group, announced today the appointment of Umang Papneja as the new CEO for Julius Baer India, effective 1 August, 2022. Umang will report to Rahul Malhotra, Head Global India and Developed Markets. He takes over the role from Ashish Gumashta who will assume the role as Executive Chairman, Julius Baer India. Ashish is among our strongest leaders, and he will continue to play an important role in driving key client relationships and building effective partnerships with stakeholders and regulators.

Umang Papneja is a seasoned professional with an excellent track record and solid experience of working in businesses of significant scale and size. He joins from IIFL Wealth Management where he was the Chief Investment Officer, providing strategic guidance for investment decisions across asset classes including equities, real estate, fixed income, commodities and alternatives with a focus on continuous product innovation. Prior to joining IIFL Wealth in 2009, Umang was the Head of Investments at Societe Generale Private Banking in Mumbai and was successful in creating investment products and ideas for domestic as well as NRI clients of the Global Indian Subcontinent team.

Shitin Desai will retire from the Board of Julius Baer Wealth Advisors (India) following an illustrious career spanning more than three decades as the founding member of DSP Investments and later holding senior positions across Merrill Lynch and Julius Baer India.

Commenting on the appointments, Rahul Malhotra said, “With our new leadership team, we have proven leaders who will work closely together to propel our India onshore franchise to the next level. We are confident that with Umang’s deep onshore knowledge and network, he will be able to drive our growth strategy and focus on building up a major presence locally by extending our reach into more key cities in India. With his strong background in investments, he will also steer our local product and infrastructure innovation where we will further develop a broader range of sophisticated and relevant products and services catered to the growing community of high-net-worth individuals in India.”

“I like to thank Ashish for leading our growth over the last six years, where he played an instrumental role in helping us advance our strategic position as the largest foreign wealth manager in India. At the same time, I would also like to thank Shitin for his commitment and contributions to our franchise in India and wish him a great retirement.”

India is a core market for Julius Baer and the Bank expects to further solidify its strong position in the market as the largest foreign private bank in India. The opportunities in India are vast, with India being the sixth largest economy in the world now, and is expected to surpass the US as the second largest by 2050.