Lee will join the bank on 1 October but will take charge of his new role on 1 January 2016.
At his previous employer, Credit Suisse, Lee was market group head for Hong Kong. Before that, he worked as chief executive for Asia at Clariden Leu from 2009 to 2012 and headed the integration of the bank into Credit Suisse in Asia-Pacific during 2012-2013.
Prior to that, he headed private wealth management for Southeast Asia for Deutsche Bank and also worked for Coutts, Morgan Stanley and Swiss Corporation Bank during his 25 year career.
He replaces Thomas Meier, who will relocate to Switzerland at the beginning of next year. Meier will be a non-executive vice chairman of wealth management from 1 January 2016.
“With Jimmy [Lee]’s vast experience and his extensive network, we will launch the next phase of growth and take our presence in Asia to the next level,” said Boris Collardi, CEO.
Since Lee is yet to take charge of his role, he would not comment on the key priorities for the region or challenges faced in the region, said a bank spokeswoman.
Until it is decided where Lee will be based, he will split his time between Singapore and Hong Kong, she added.
The bank’s total client assets were CHF 369bn ($377.7bn) on 30 June and nearly one quarter of the group’s global AUM comes from Asia, said the firm.
In May, the bank named Richard Straus and Parminder Soin as new market heads for Taiwan and India, respectively. Christian Mueller recently left Julius Baer to join Standard Chartered Private Bank as global head of investment advisory
