S.For months there has been lively speculation about who will succeed Axel Weber. His term of office as chairman of the board of directors of the major Swiss bank UBS is limited to ten years and ends in April 2022. All sorts of names of candidates appeared in the gazettes who might be considered for this excellently paid top position or who would position themselves for it. On Saturday, UBS lifted the veil: Colm Kelleher is to be elected as the new President by the General Assembly on April 6th. This is a big surprise. The 64-year-old Irishman has not yet been considered.
Kelleher was President of the major American bank Morgan Stanley until June 2019, where he headed the global securities business with institutional clients and the important asset management business. He is a Morgan Stanley plant: Kelleher joined the bank in 1989 as a securities dealer in London and has since worked as CFO. In this role he made an important contribution to guiding the bank through the financial crisis in 2008. Kelleher holds a Masters Degree in Modern History from Oxford University and is a Fellow at the Institute of Chartered Accountants (FCA).
With the Irish, the top of UBS will become even more international. Ultimately, the operational management of the largest Swiss bank is the responsibility of the Dutchman Ralph Hamers. The former ING boss took over as CEO from Sergio Ermotti a good year ago. As a native of Ticino, Ermotti represented the Swiss DNA in corporate management. So that this is not completely lost in the headquarters in Zurich, the board of directors has considered another personal move: Lukas Gähwiler is to become vice-chairman of the board of directors. The 56-year-old Swiss was a member of the UBS Executive Committee from 2010 to 2016 and is currently the head of the Board of Directors of the Swiss unit at UBS, which operates as a universal bank in its home country. In his new role, Gähwiler will represent UBS in the most important Swiss associations and industry organizations and be the point of contact for politics.
No connection to Switzerland to be seen
In the press release published by UBS on the personnel table, Axel Weber praised the 30 years of management experience of his designated successor. He also highlights its excellent network. For Kelleher, it is “a great privilege to be able to help shape the future of the bank”, according to its own admission.
The boards of directors of Swiss companies, and in particular their presidents, are more involved and challenged than the members of German supervisory boards. You not only control, but also largely determine the strategy. Therefore, the posts are also very well endowed. Weber earned 5.2 million francs last year.
Kelleher has worked in London and New York. There is no reference to Switzerland in his résumé. According to the bank, he will now move to Zurich. Business at UBS, one of the largest asset managers in the world, has been very good recently. In the third quarter alone, it made a net profit of $ 2.3 billion. Therefore, Kelleher is not expected to change course strategically. Rather, it should continue its growth course, with the focus primarily on America and Asia.
Kelleher was also traded as a candidate for the chairmanship of Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board a year ago. The Dutchman Alexander Wynaendts will take over this position. The former CEO of the Dutch insurer Aegon is set to succeed Paul Achleitner in May 2022. Deutsche Bank announced this on Friday evening.
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