Ermotti Says UBS Is Assembling List of Potential Successors
(Bloomberg) — UBS Group AG Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti said the bank is in the process of identifying candidates to replace him while reiterating he expects to step aside within about a year.
“We are assembling the right candidates for the new leadership,” Ermotti said in an interview with the newspaper Tages-Anzeiger published Thursday, responding to a question about who will ultimately take over from him. “As previously communicated, I will complete the integration of Credit Suisse and remain CEO at least until the end of 2026 or spring 2027.”
Ermotti also expressed a preference for an internal successor.
The comments highlight how the question of who will ultimately succeed Ermotti is becomg a live issue as UBS is completing the mammoth task of integrating Credit Suisse, the former rival it bought in a government-engineered emergency deal three years ago. Potential names include Aleksandar Ivanovic, who leads the Swiss firm’s asset management unit, wealth management co-heads Iqbal Khan and Robert Karofsky, and Chief Operating Officer Beatriz Martin.
UBS is still trying to convince the Swiss government to water down planned changes to regulation that could impose as much as $26 billion in fresh capital requirements on it. The bank has strongly criticized the government’s stance, arguing it would render it uncompetitive.
That lobbying effort has gained growing support among Switzerland’s politicians. The country’s largest party, SVP, has backed a compromise proposal from some lawmakers that would significantly reduce the burden on UBS compared to the package put forward by the government.
The discussion about the bank reforms “is slowly becoming more objective again,” Ermotti said in the Tages-Anzeiger interview. “If a change of thinking is slowly taking place in politics, that’s a good thing.”
Ermotti reiterated the bank will cut about 3,000 positions in Switzerland due to integration efforts, with the majority of those expected to happen through “natural attrition” and early retirement. “We are minimizing the number of job losses and their social impact as much as possible,” Ermotti said.
(Adds comments about jobs in last paragraph.)
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