Chairman of the Board
Born in 1953, Christian Merle holds a degree from the University of Political Science in Paris and a Master's degree in Economics from the University of Paris I (Panthéon Sorbonne).
Between 1977 and 1987 he held various responsibilities, mainly in the field of prudential supervision of credit institutions for the Banque de France and the Ministry of Finance (French Treasury Management). From 1987 to 1990 he represented the Ministry of Finance in New York (French Treasury Representative in the USA).
In 1990, he starts a career in commercial banking, which led him to take up general management positions in the main European banking groups (Crédit Agricole, Indosuez, EspiritoSanto Group, Banca Intesa, Crédit Lyonnais). He has directed or supervised banking institutions in France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Portugal. In particular, he was CEO of Banca Intesa (now IntesaSanpaolo) from 1998 to 2003.
Back in Paris in 2003, he worked as an investment banker as Managing Partner in small specialized structures (Gimar & Cie, Mandel Partners) especially for clients of financial institutions.
In 2013, he founded a consulting firm in Geneva (Merle & Partners) that provides strategic advisory services primarily to commercial and private banking executives in Switzerland, France and Italy.
Christian is also an independent director on several boards of directors: Chairman of Banque Morval (Geneva), Chairman of IntesaSanpaolo Private Banking Switzerland (Lugano), Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Vall Banc (Andorra).