ZURICH: UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti expects to hand over to a colleague when he calls it quits atop Switzerland’s biggest bank, he said in a magazine interview.
The succession issue does not seem pressing. Chairman Axel Weber let it be known last year that he planned to stay on until 2022, with Ermotti as his CEO.
Bilanz magazine said Ermotti had agreed to give Weber a year’s notice before leaving the job he has held since 2011, and that it was clear UBS would seek an internal candidate to lead the world’s biggest private bank.
“Something probably would not have gone well if my successor came from outside,” Ermotti said.
UBS co-heads of wealth management Martin Blessing and Tom Naratil, investment banking head Andrea Orcel, chief operating office Sabine Keller-Busse and Swiss domestic head Axel Lehmann have been named by media as possible successors for Ermotti.
Ermotti was coy about whether he would like to be UBS chairman one day.
“I don’t rule the board out but it’s also not my goal. The important thing is the best solution for the bank,” he told Bilanz.
UBS provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as private clients in Switzerland. The operational structure of the Group is comprised of our Corporate Center and four business divisions: Global Wealth Management, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management and the Investment Bank. UBS's strategy builds on the strengths of all of its businesses and focuses its efforts on areas in which it excels, while seeking to capitalize on the compelling growth prospects in the businesses and regions in which it operates, in order to generate attractive and sustainable returns for its shareholders.
All of its businesses are capital-efficient and benefit from a strong competitive position in their targeted markets. UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in 54 countries, with about 34% of its employees working in the Americas, 35% in Switzerland, 18% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 13% in Asia Pacific. UBS Group AG employs approximately 60,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
