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UBS has proposed former Morgan Stanley president Colm Kelleher as its subsequent chair, succeeding Axel Weber when he steps down subsequent yr after a decade overseeing the Swiss lender.
The appointment of Kelleher, a 64-year-old Irishman who spent 30 years on the Wall Road financial institution, was introduced on Saturday morning. UBS performed a large exterior seek for Weber’s alternative, with former head of the Swiss Nationwide Financial institution, Philipp Hildebrand, and ex-UniCredit CEO Jean Pierre Mustier linked to the function.
“With the ability to assist form the financial institution’s future is a superb privilege, and I stay up for working along with the board, CEO Ralph Hamers and the entire workforce at UBS,” Kelleher mentioned in a press release.
Hamers added: “Colm brings helpful experience in banking to the board and I’m trying ahead to working with him to additional shaping the way forward for UBS.”
Kelleher joined Morgan Stanley’s London workplace in 1989 after learning historical past at Oxford college. He ran the mounted earnings buying and selling desk in London, earlier than transferring to New York and rising to chief monetary officer, then president. He stepped down because the quantity two on the financial institution in March 2019, retaining a job as a senior adviser.
As chair he’ll work alongside Hamers, who took over at UBS a yr in the past and has pledged to hurry up digitisation. The Dutch former ING CEO will set out his imaginative and prescient for the group in a strategic replace in February.
Weber mentioned Kelleher introduced a deep understanding of the worldwide banking panorama to the function. “I’m satisfied that his background and expertise might be of nice worth in persevering with to carry the very best of our agency to shoppers, buyers, and workers,” he added.
One of many most important planks of Hamer’s technique might be a digital wealth supervisor for mass prosperous clients within the US, which may launch as early as subsequent yr. The launch would put UBS into extra direct competitors with the likes of Morgan Stanley, which can be concentrating on shoppers with between $250,000 and $2m of property.
UBS has fared higher than most of its European rivals in recent times largely on account of its standing because the world’s greatest wealth supervisor, with a robust presence in Asia. The Zurich-based firm has seen earnings surge through the pandemic, with its rich shoppers’ property hovering due to the trillions of {dollars} central banks have pumped into the worldwide financial system.
UBS has additionally benefited from the chaos at its most important rival, Credit score Suisse, which has suffered a succession of scandals and large buying and selling losses which have price it and its shoppers billions.
The seek for the brand new chair was led by UBS director Jeremy Anderson and aided by the lender’s longtime headhunters, Egon Zehnder.
Throughout his lengthy tenure at UBS, Weber helped stabilise the financial institution after a state bailout, shrinking the funding financial institution and prioritising development in wealth administration. This technique established UBS as one of the crucial profitable and helpful European lenders. Weber was president of the German Bundesbank between 2004 and 2011.
Weber does nevertheless depart some unfinished enterprise for Kelleher, who should assist information UBS via some contentious authorized circumstances. A ruling over its enchantment towards a €4.5bn court docket resolution in France for facilitating tax fraud is predicted in December.
A parallel case can be underneath investigation by Belgian authorities. UBS has $2bn put aside to deal with anticipated authorized prices.
Hamers is himself being investigated by a Dutch court docket for his function in a money-laundering scandal throughout his time at ING. He has denied wrongdoing.
UBS additionally introduced Lukas Gähwiler, chair of the financial institution’s Swiss unit, could be proposed as vice chair. Kelleher and Gähwiler might be put ahead for election on the financial institution’s AGM on April 6 subsequent yr.
Deutsche Financial institution on Friday introduced Dutch insurance coverage veteran and Citigroup board member, Alex Wynaendts, would succeed Paul Achleitner as chair subsequent yr.
In late 2019, personal fairness agency Cerberus — one in every of Deutsche’s largest shareholders — pushed for Achleitner’s exit, unsuccessfully attempting to exchange him with Kelleher.
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