Deutsche Bank is strengthening its Swiss corporate client business with the appointment of Hans Burri to lead its "Bank for Entrepreneurs" initiative. Burri, a veteran of both Credit Suisse and UBS, will consolidate the bank's corporate banking and wealth management capabilities under a single offering aimed at Swiss business owners.
Burri reports to Clemens Kaiser, Deutsche Bank's Swiss chief country officer and head of private banking. The initiative, announced by the bank on Monday, seeks to expand Deutsche Bank's focus within the Swiss entrepreneurial ecosystem by providing coordinated access to the services clients need across both business and private wealth development.
The program targets company owners, shareholder families, and owner-managed enterprises, bringing together expertise from the bank's corporate banking and wealth management divisions.
Burri brings decades of experience in entrepreneur banking to the role. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, he worked for UBS, where he led the Migration Execution Office for Corporate and Real Estate clients—a position responsible for migrating Credit Suisse corporate clients onto the UBS platform following the acquisition.
Before the UBS takeover, Burri spent more than 23 years at Credit Suisse, where he led corporate banking operations for the Luzern market area and later for central Switzerland.
Kaiser said the initiative reflects the reality that entrepreneurs—whom he called "the backbone of the Swiss economy"—often have intertwined business and private financial needs. "With Bank for Entrepreneurs, we want to offer our clients an even more integrated portfolio by pooling the full expertise of Deutsche Bank," Kaiser said. "Hans Burri brings deep market knowledge, long leadership experience and a pronounced understanding of the entrepreneurial ecosystem."
The appointment comes amid intensified competition in Swiss corporate banking after UBS acquired Credit Suisse, eliminating a major domestic player. Multiple Swiss and foreign banks have since announced plans to expand their presence in the segment formerly dominated by CS.
