Raiffeisen Switzerland CEO steps down unexpectedly

Raiffeisen Switzerland CEO Heinz Huber steps down unexpectedly Keystone-SDA

Raiffeisen Switzerland CEO Heinz Huber is stepping down at the end of the year. This means that Switzerland's second-largest banking group after UBS is looking for a new CEO.

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After almost six years, Huber will step down from his role as chairman of the executive board on December 31, 2024, Raiffeisen Switzerland announced on Wednesday. As of July 2025, he intends to move to the strategic management level and become chairman of Graubündner Kantonalbank (GKB).

On January 1, 2025, Christian Poerschke, head of the finance and services department and deputy chairman of the executive board at Raiffeisen Switzerland, will take over for him on an interim basis. The board of directors has initiated the succession process.

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Expansion of the business

“Heinz Huber took over as CEO of Raiffeisen Switzerland at a very challenging time and has always managed the company prudently and successfully with a steady hand,” said chairman of the board of directors Thomas Müller in the press release. The entire supervisory board thanks him “for his great commitment”.

Huber had been CEO of Raiffeisen Switzerland since January 7, 2019. During this time, he has played a key role in shaping the further development of the banking group, the statement continued. Raiffeisen has expanded all business areas over the past six years.

As a result, income reached CHF4.1 billion ($4.6 billion) (+15%) last year. Raiffeisen Switzerland increased its profit by 17.7% to CHF1.39 billion. The cooperatively organised banking group with almost 220 Raiffeisen banks employs over 11,000 people.

Fanconi successor

Graubündner Kantonalbank (GKB) announced at the end of July that bank president Peter Fanconi would be stepping down prematurely at the PS Meeting 2025. He was originally re-elected for a third term of office from 2022 until the end of March 2026.

Fanconi recently came under pressure in connection with GKB’s controversial lending to investor René Benko’s collapsed Austrian real estate group Signa. However, the audit report commissioned in this regard had exonerated the chairman.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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