Switzerland’s status as the world’s banker to the super-rich is not “god given”, the head of the one of the country’s biggest banks has warned, as the country reels from the near-collapse of Credit Suisse.

The Swiss government and regulators needed to better communicate with worried international investors, the chief executive of Julius Baer, Philipp Rickenbacher told the Financial Times, as he cautioned that the crisis of confidence in global banking was far from over.

“Things will remain very complicated — everything that was there a month ago will not go away,” Rickenbacher said, pointing to central banks’ rapid tightening of monetary policy and the stress it was putting the financial system under. “There’s still some room for policy mistakes at the highest levels when it comes to interest rates . . . everyone’s senses are sharpened right now.”

Switzerland, historically famed for the stability of its banks, has found itself on the front line of current turmoil.

Two weeks ago, Swiss authorities were forced to orchestrate the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse by its larger rival UBS, granting huge government guarantees in order to prevent a catastrophic banking collapse, in a deal that shocked the banking world.

Julius Baer, which manages assets of about SFr424bn for wealthy individuals, is poised to become Switzerland’s second-largest bank as a result of the merger.

Rickenbacher said that the Swiss financial marketplace was an “outstanding ecosystem” but was being tested. “It is obvious that Swiss banks being in the international press is adding to this pressure and we as Swiss bankers have to respond.”

He said he was seeing a “movement of clients to quality” in Switzerland as wealthy account holders pull back from UBS and Credit Suisse — whose business models also entail riskier investment banking activities — and shift towards traditional, more conservative Swiss banks.

The 133-year old Julius Baer is Switzerland’s largest “pure-play” private bank: it caters only to the account and investment needs of wealthy individuals and does not speculate with its own capital or run its own in-house asset management business.

It has not been without controversy of its own in the past. The Swiss market regulator, Finma, strongly censured the bank in 2020, imposing a strict monitoring regime, over findings that it had failed to live up to anti-money laundering standards for almost a decade. The bank has also paid hundreds of millions of dollars in regulatory fines to US authorities over the last 15 years.

Equity markets nevertheless now view it as a potential beneficiary of UBS and Credit Suisse’s arranged marriage: its share price has risen more than 12.3 per cent since the rescue — though it is up only 11.7 per cent year to date.

“Our model . . . has worked very well for us, let’s put it that way,” said Rickenbacher. He said the bank was also having “constructive discussions” with staff at Credit Suisse who were already looking to leave their troubled employer.

“We have hiring opportunities in Latin America, we have hiring opportunities in Asia — and also in HK, now it is back online — and by the way we also have hiring opportunities in Europe and in Switzerland,” he said.

A crucial concern for management at UBS is how to stop departing staff taking lucrative clients with them. Many rich account holders are already worried about UBS’ takeover of its more freewheeling rival, wealth advisers and banking analysts have said in recent days. The combined bank will have the world’s fourth largest balance sheet, at more than $5tn.

“An integration of that order of magnitude in Switzerland is going to take a lot of resources and effort, and a lot of complexity,” said Rickenbacher, who was careful to also praise the quality of his rivals’ businesses and leadership.

The rescue deal has, all the same, raised questions over moral hazard, he believes, calling for a review of the global regulatory standards set in place after the 2008 financial crisis.

“‘Too Big to Fail’ [regulations] were designed to solve one problem . . . and in this case they could not solve that problem,” he said. “[My] gut feeling and moral compass says that a private institution should be able to fail, and that is a good starting point.”

Julius Baer was extremely conscious of its risks and managed its balance sheet extremely cautiously, he said. “I would say very humbly that we are not too big to fail.”