SINGAPORE • BSI, the Swiss bank being acquired by EFG International, said the interim head of its Singapore operation, Mr Raj Sriram, has resigned.

Mr Renato Cohn, a member of the BSI group executive board, will become acting Singapore chief executive officer, the bank said in an e-mailed statement.

Mr Cohn's appointment is pending regulatory approval and will run until the EFG deal is complete, BSI said.

EFG agreed to buy BSI in February from Brazil's Grupo BTG Pactual in a 1.3 billion Swiss francs (S$1.8 billion) transaction that will create Switzerland's fifth-largest private bank.

Mr Sriram decided to leave the bank to take a career break, the statement said.

Mr Cohn joined BTG Pactual and became a partner in 2004, it said. He has been BSI's head of ultra high net worth development since September last year.

Several senior employees have left or are in the process of leaving BSI's Singapore office, including the three members of the bank committee that vetted major new clients at a time when money flowed in from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and related entities, according to people familiar with the matter. None of the three has been accused of wrongdoing.

Earlier this month, the authorities here charged a former BSI wealth planner Yeo Jiawei, 33, with money laundering.

He was charged with receiving funds amounting to $200,000 in his account that were termed "benefits from cheating".

While the charge made no mention of 1MDB, it stemmed from investigations into the fund's money flows, people familiar with the matter said last week.

BLOOMBERG