Corporate Crossings | Julius Baer hires IIFL investment veteran Umang Papneja as its new CEO for India

Swiss wealth management group Julius Baer on July 4 announced the appointment of Umang Papneja as the new CEO of Julius Baer India, effective August 1, 2022.

Papneja will be reporting to head global India and developed markets Rahul Malhotra. He succeeds 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," the company said in a statement.

Prior to joining Julius Baer, Papneja was the chief investment officer of the wealth arm of major Indian financial group IIFL, which he joined in 2009. Previously, he was also the head of investments at Societe Generale Private Banking in Mumbai. "Umang Papneja is a seasoned professional with an excellent track record and solid experience of working in businesses of significant scale and size," the company said.

In addition to this, Shitin Desai will retire from the board of Julius Baer India following an illustrious career spanning over three decades as the founding member of DSP Investments and later holding senior positions across Merrill Lynch and Julius Baer India.

Julius Baer takes an integrated approach to India, which it names a core market in Asia, with offshore coverage of non-resident Indians throughout Asia, the Middle East and Europe complementing its domestic coverage of cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad via its onshore unit.

“We are confident that with (Papneja) 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,” Malhotra said.

“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.”