The race for the CEO seat at derivatives firm Leonteq is heating up. While time is stand-in boss Marco Amato's ally, he hasn't quite clinched the job yet. finews.asia reports.

Leonteq has left the worst behind, the Zurich-based structured products boutique telegraphed to investors last month. The troubled firm is likely to return to profitable territory this week, following a major overhaul including ousting its star CEO Jan Schoch (pictured below), reinforcing its board, reining in its outsized spending, and pruning staff.

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The firm parachuted its relatively new finance chief, Marco Amato, into the top spot when Schoch left, acrimoniously, in October. Widely viewed as a brilliant next-generation finance thinker, Schoch squandered trust with Leonteq’s investors because the firm often couldn’t follow through on his bold predictions.

Humbler Tone

By contrast, former consultant Amato has adopted a humbler tone from the nakedly ambitious pronouncements of his predecessor, bringing much-needed structure and clarity to an organization which had grown at break-neck speed (click here to read finews.asia’s exclusive interview with him last month).

Investors have had more to cheer since Leonteq pared back: the shares nearly doubled last year. The 36-year-old Amato was slated to give investors a progress report last month, but was replaced on short noticed because he had recently undergone a tonsillectomy. 

Marshalling the Troops

Behind the scenes, he has spent a good part of his first 100 days in office marshalling the troops and reassuring clients, including a trip to Asia with high-profile board member Thomas Meier (pictured below).

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The Swiss-Italian dual citizen is clearly in the pole position for the job, but hasn’t quite clinched it yet: Leonteq is still interviewing candidates, two sources familiar with the matter told finews.asia. In focus? Internal candidates including Amato, but also outside applicants with experience running a publicly-listed firm who can lay out a ten-year vision for the firm, the person said.