UBS Names Novakovic Head of Investment Bank in Switzerland

April 7 (Bloomberg) — UBS AG appointed Christine Novakovic as head of its investment bank in Switzerland, replacing Peter Guenthardt, who left the bank last month.

Novakovic will also take over leadership of the Swiss corporate client solutions business, which includes underwriting bonds and stocks and advising on mergers and acquisitions, according to a memo to employees today. A UBS spokeswoman confirmed the memo’s contents. Novakovic will assume the new responsibilities in addition to her role as head of corporate and institutional clients in Switzerland.

“The joint management of these two business areas supports UBS Switzerland’s strategy of ensuring growth and synergies through even closer cross-divisional collaboration,” according to the memo from Andrea Orcel, who leads the investment bank, and Lukas Gaehwiler, who heads the business in Switzerland.

Novakovic, 49, joined UBS in February 2011. She started her career as a fixed-income trader at Dresdner Bank AG from 1990 until 1991, after which she joined UBS in Germany, where she held various roles until 1996, when she joined Citibank NA.

She stayed with Citi for eight years, last holding the chief executive officer post at the German consumer banking unit between 2001 and 2004. Novakovic then headed private banking, consumer banking and asset management at HVB Group. In 2007, she started her own company, CNB AG, focusing on business consulting and art dealing.

Novakovic will report to both Gaehwiler and Orcel in her roles, the memo said. The appointment takes effect immediately.

Guenthardt was hired by Bank of America Corp., the second- largest U.S. lender, as co-head of Asia-Pacific global capital markets, according to a memo to employees last month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elena Logutenkova in Zurich at [e-mail] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at [e-mail] Steve Bailey