UBS splits wealth management role amid leadership changes

Author: Noele Illien

ZURICH (Reuters) – UBS said on Thursday it would split its top wealth management job as part of a management shakeup, creating new responsibilities for the two leading contenders to ultimately run the Swiss bank after Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti.

Rob Karofsky, head of investment bank UBS, will become head of the Americas in July and co-president of global wealth management alongside current head of wealth management Iqbal Khan, who will now also cover the Asia-Pacific region.

Khan, a Swiss national, will relocate to Asia to take up his new position from September 1. Khan and Karofsky, an American, are among the leading internal candidates to succeed Ermotti, who the bank says could remain in office until at least 2027.

Vontobel analyst Andreas Venditti described the reshuffle as more far-reaching than expected.

“These changes make Iqbal and Rob the top candidates to become CEO of UBS,” he said.

Ermotti said in a statement that the new appointments “will place even greater emphasis on our long-term priorities and growth prospects, particularly in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region.”

Recent media reports indicate that Ermotti has rejected the appointment of an outsider as his successor and intends to present internal candidates, as he did when he last left UBS in 2020.

“Our goal is to really dramatically increase the chances of having an internal candidate,” Ermotti told Reuters last month.

Beatriz Martin, president of UBS for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is also considered a potential successor to Ermotti.

UBS, which is in the process of integrating its longtime rival Credit Suisse, made the announcement ahead of the merger of the banks’ main parent companies, which is expected to be legally completed on Friday. Last year, UBS acquired Credit Suisse.

The merger of the parent company is expected to enable the Swiss bank to start with the more difficult stages of integration, such as the merger of IT systems, the migration of customers from Credit Suisse and the reduction of employment in the enlarged bank by more than 110,000 employees.

UBS said that as part of the change, former Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Koerner will retire from the bank later this year.

The bank also named George Athanasopoulos and Marco Valla as co-CEOs of the investment bank, part of a series of changes UBS is implementing from July 1.

As part of the previously announced departure, Damian Vogel will take over the role of risk specialist from Christian Bluhm. Bluhm will remain in an advisory role.

UBS Americas CEO Naureen Hassan is set to step down effective July 1, one of a string of female executives to leave the bank in the past year.

(Reporting by Noele Illien; Additional reporting by Rachel More and Oliver Hirt; Editing by Dave Graham, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)