UBS has introduced again Sergio Ermotti as chief govt to steer its takeover of Credit score Suisse, changing Ralph Hamers lower than two weeks after regulators orchestrated the rescue deal.
Ermotti, who was chief govt for 9 years earlier than stepping down in 2020, will begin on April 5, UBS stated on Wednesday. Hamers will stay as an adviser throughout a transition interval.
The Swiss financial institution stated it acted “in mild of the brand new challenges and priorities dealing with UBS after the announcement of the acquisition” and cited Ermotti’s earlier expertise together with a restructuring of its funding financial institution.
“This distinctive expertise, collectively together with his deep understanding of the monetary companies trade in Switzerland and globally, make Sergio Ermotti ideally positioned to pursue the combination of Credit score Suisse,” UBS stated.
UBS agreed to take over Credit score Suisse in a $3.25bn weekend rescue deal supported by Swiss authorities.
The deal heralds a massively complicated strategy of integration for the 2 Zurich-based banks, with 1000’s of jobs in danger and key staff being courted by different rivals.
In an announcement, Hamers stated he was “stepping apart within the pursuits of the brand new mixed entity and its stakeholders, together with Switzerland and its monetary sector”.
“Integrating Credit score Suisse is UBS’s single most essential job and I’m assured that Sergio will efficiently information the financial institution by way of this subsequent section. I’m in fact sorry to depart UBS, however circumstances have modified in ways in which none of us anticipated,” Hamers stated.
Since leaving UBS, Ermotti has chaired the reinsurer Swiss Re in addition to a particular function acquisition firm that bought Italian luxury fashion group Ermenegildo Zegna.
Hamers had been chief govt since November 2020.
UBS chair Colm Kelleher stated Hamers had put the financial institution “able to stabilise Credit score Suisse and guarantee a profitable integration”.
“Whereas the acquisition will help UBS’s current technique, it imposes new priorities on us,” he stated. “Together with his distinctive expertise, I’m very assured that Sergio will ship the profitable integration that’s so important for each banks’ purchasers, workers and buyers, and for Switzerland. I do know Sergio will hit the bottom working.”
Hamers joined UBS from ING after spending 25 years on the Dutch lender, seven of them as chief govt. He was a shock alternative for the UBS job, regardless of having been handpicked by then-chair Axel Weber.
Critics pointed to his lack of expertise in wealth administration and funding banking, UBS’s two largest companies. He was seen as a digital skilled who may assist reduce the financial institution’s price base, however his concepts took time to implement. It was greater than a yr earlier than he unveiled his plan for the enterprise, which consisted of concentrating on rich purchasers within the US and Asia.
However a key plank of the technique — a $1.4bn takeover of US robo-adviser Wealthfront — was aborted final yr. The deal discovered little help inside UBS’s senior ranks on account of the price of the deal and the restricted variety of wealthy prospects it will appeal to.
Kelleher, who turned chair of UBS a yr in the past after spending most of his profession at Morgan Stanley, took Hamers underneath his wing and coached him in promoting his imaginative and prescient to worldwide buyers.
The plain-speaking Kelleher even banned Hamers from utilizing administration buzzwords similar to “ecosystems” and “function”.
