Julius Baer, the third-largest Swiss wealth manager by assets, has placed some fund management operations under the control of the chief executive of its private bank in a boost for its rich clients business.

The group's Sfr75bn (€45bn) European asset management operations - excluding GAM, which runs Sfr93.5bn in funds of hedge funds - will be folded into a new division known as Investment Products, together with some of the private bank's product research and portfolio management capacity.