Julius Baer has been counting losses for two years. Now it’s counting CFO days.
Evie Kostakis will leave the Swiss bank’s top finance role later this year, the bank announced Friday. She’s pursuing “another international leadership opportunity” but will stay through year-end.
The timing is brutal. Julius Baer is still working through the wreckage of its $700 million exposure to René Benko’s Signa Holding, the Austrian real estate empire that collapsed in 2023. Those losses triggered an enforcement assessment by Swiss regulator FINMA that’s still in effect. Then in May 2025, the bank flagged a $156 million credit charge; six months later, another $184 million in losses. That’s over $1 billion in hits since the Benko blowup.
Kostakis climbed through Julius Baer from managing director in 2013 to deputy CFO in 2020, then CFO in 2022. CEO Stefan Bollinger, who took the helm early last year, credited her with strategic footprint optimization, operational efficiency improvements, and a technology transformation in the finance function. “Evie’s steadfast leadership has been crucial in re-positioning Julius Baer for long-term success,” he said.
The bank’s been hunting for her replacement for several weeks, according to Reuters.
What does Julius Baer actually get with its next CFO? A balance sheet still under FINMA scrutiny, and a credit book that kept bleeding well past the initial Benko write-down. Whoever takes the seat inherits that math.
Diana Kowalski