Benjamin de Rothschild, president of the holding of the French-Swiss private bank and asset manager Edmond de Rothschild, died of a heart attack at age 57, the group announced on Saturday.
De Rothschild had already moved away from the day-to-day financial business he inherited from his father Edmond, leaving him in the hands of his energetic wife Ariane, while pursuing his passion for high-speed yachts and cars.
“He has a great distance, a completely different temperament,” she once told FT. “I admire it because I can’t. I have to be totally practical. “
The group described Benjamin de Rothschild as a “visionary entrepreneur, passionate about finance, speed, sailing and automobiles, wine enthusiast [and] and active philanthropist ”.
He leaves behind a family business created in 1953, which now has 173 billion francs ($ 194 billion) in assets under management. In addition to wealth management, the group is involved in corporate finance, private equity and property. It employs 2,600 people in 32 locations worldwide.
Cynthia Tobiano, executive vice president, said Edmond de Rothschild’s business would not be affected by Benjamin’s sudden death.
“Obviously, they discussed and made long-term decisions at the family ownership level with him, but at the bank level Ariane is chairing the board and with the executive committee designing and executing the strategy.” Geneva-based Edmond de Rothschild was completely private in 2019.
Ms. Tobiano added: “Covid is a catalyst to go even further and faster in digitization when you cannot meet customers in person.”
Two branches of the extended Rothschild family finally settled a name dispute three years ago, with Parisian investment bank Rothschild & Co and Edmond de Rothschild undoing cross-shareholdings and agreeing not to use the Rothschild name alone in the brand.
Last year, Sergei Bogdanchikov, former head of Russia’s Rosneft, accused Edmond de Rothschild of being involved in a bribery scheme that stole millions of dollars from his investment fund and ended up costing him more than $ 100 million. The private bank declined to comment on the ongoing case.
In recent years, however, Benjamin de Rothschild was more focused on family sailing sponsorships than business, including an ongoing campaign for the Gitana team’s high-speed hydrofoil trimaran to win the Jules Verne trophy breaking the world record sailing circumnavigation – which currently takes just under 41 days.
The victory in that challenge, said Mrs. Tobiano, “would be a great legacy, which he would have loved”.