Swiss private bank Julius Baer said on Monday Raymond Baer will head a special committee overseeing its cooperation with a U.S. tax investigation after standing down as chairman of the bank.

The 52-year-old Baer, who has been at the group almost 25 years and headed private banking for ten years before serving nine years as chairman, will take the role of honorary chairman as of the next shareholder meeting.

The Board has nominated board member Daniel Sauterne, a veteran of commodities trader Glencore and mining company Xstrata as non-executive chairman when Baer stands down.

In his role as Honorary Chairman, Raymond J. Baer will continue to support the Bank in finding constructive solutions for the past chapters affecting Julius Baer and the banking industry at large, the bank said in a statement.

In this respect, he has been elected to chair the Special Committee overseeing the ongoing cooperation with U.S. authorities.

A spokesman for the bank said the committee has existed for some time, and was formed when the U.S. issues first surfaced.

He added that the Baer family was not looking to reduce its stake in the bank.

In February Julius Baer said it expects to have to hand over client data as part of the U.S. probe into wealthy Americans who stashed their money in Swiss banks to avoid paying taxes.

(Reporting by Martin de Sa'Pinto; Editing by Mike Nesbit)