EFG International AG announced that Peter Fanconi, EFG International's chair of the board, will step down from the role on 31 October 2022 for personal reasons. Alexander Classen is set to assume the position following an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on 1 November 2022. Former Pictet managing partner Boris Collardi will be proposed as a non-independent member of the board at the same meeting.

Classen was most recently CEO and country head Switzerland for HSBC Private Bank (Suisse), he held this role for more than four years but will relinquish it on 30 September 2022. Prior his time with HSBC, Classen was managing partner at Bedrock, a global investment and advisory firm based in Geneva and was CEO of Coutts International from 2011 to 2015. During his career Classen was also head of private wealth management EMEA at Morgan Stanley International and he ran Goldman Sachs Bank AG Zurich as general manager.

He started his career at Pictet as a portfolio manager and private banker in 1985 and acted as local CEO in Singapore from 1995 to 2000. Commenting on Fanconi's departure, Dr. John Latsis, member of the board of directors at EFG International, said under his leadership the bank successfully achieved the turnaround and significantly increased its profitability.