Nuveen has opened in Zurich as part of a “strategic move to bolster its private wealth offering in Europe”, having identified the Swiss market as an important region to meet this objective.
The office, its 17th in Europe, offers a range of solutions to Swiss clients across public and private markets including products across the global real estate and alternatives sectors.
At the same time, the global investment manager has hired Christian Leger as managing director and head of Switzerland.
Leger will lead Nuveen’s expansion across Switzerland, in alignment with its objectives to both grow its existing institutional client base and offering for private wealth clients. Leger joins from Allianz Global Investors, where he was country head for Switzerland and head of European banks.
He is joined by Michele Perone, who was also previously at Allianz Global Investors and will be vice president in the Zurich office.
Unlock wealth market
Romina Smith, head of central Europe for global client group at Nuveen, said: “The opening of our office in Switzerland is a significant step for Nuveen’s European expansion plans, as we focus on bolstering our services to the private wealth and institutional investment industries.
“A local presence is essential to our success here as Switzerland is home to some of the world’s largest private banks and global financial institutions and we see the Zürich office as key to further unlocking the wealth market in Europe.
“We are also extremely lucky to be able to welcome Christian to lead these efforts. Christian brings a wealth of experience, having covered Swiss clients throughout the entirety of his career.
“We believe that with our diverse investment offering and extensive experience investing across both public and private market solutions, Nuveen is uniquely suited to address Swiss clients’ current and future needs. Christian’s knowledge of the local market and industry expertise will be invaluable as we look to build and strengthen our client base.”
Nuveen has $1.3trn (£1.08trn, €1.28trn) in assets under management as of 31 December 2021 and operations in 27 countries.
