UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti Steps Down, ING's Ralph Hamers Named New Chief -- Update
February 19 2020 - 7:41PM
Dow Jones News
By Margot Patrick
UBS Group AG Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti is stepping down and
will be succeeded by current ING Groep NV boss Ralph Hamers, in the
latest leadership change at a major European bank.
The Swiss bank, the country's largest by assets, said Mr. Hamers
will join its board in September and become CEO on Nov. 1. Mr.
Ermotti, 59 years old, has been UBS's chief executive since 2011
and was expected to announce his departure this year or next.
UBS Chairman Axel Weber said Mr. Hamers is "the right CEO" to
lead the company through changes across the banking industry, as a
"seasoned and well-respected banker with proven expertise in
digital transformation." He thanked Mr. Ermotti for "adding a
successful chapter to the history of this more than 150-year-old
bank."
Mr. Hamers, 53, was chosen in lieu of internal candidates at
UBS, including Chief Operating Officer Sabine Keller-Busse and
newly hired co-head of wealth management Iqbal Khan.
A Dutch national, Mr. Hamers has been at ING since 1991 and
became CEO in 2013.
At the time he was starting in the top job, ING was emerging
from a yearslong restructuring that saw it sell or exit operations
across the globe and return to its roots as a regional lender.
Revenue rose under Mr. Hamers's tenure but costs also increased
as ING was forced to add compliance staff after a record EUR775
million ($890 million) fine in 2018 to settle an investigation by
Dutch prosecutors into money laundered by clients through the
bank.
ING said Mr. Hamers will remain as CEO until June 30. It didn't
name a successor.
Mr. Hamers in said it was a hard decision to leave the place he
where he has worked for 29 years, but he is "honored to get the
opportunity to lead an established institution like UBS."
Mr. Ermotti's departure had been rumored for more than a year
and Mr. Weber previously said succession planning was under way.
The Swiss-born CEO led UBS through a post-financial-crisis
restructuring, pushing its stock price up as he repositioned it as
a global wealth manager serving billionaires and entrepreneurs.
The bank's shares have gained 28% since he started in the job, a
better performance than many rivals as Europe's weak economic
growth, regulatory pressures and low interest rates have weighed on
the region's lenders. More recently, UBS has had to lower its
financial targets to reflect a worsened economic picture and the
effects of persistently low and negative rates in its markets.
On Wednesday, Mr. Ermotti said it is the right time to move on.
"UBS is in great shape, enjoys maximum strategic flexibility and is
well positioned for sustainable growth," he said.
The naming of Mr. Hamers as the next UBS CEO was first reported
by the Financial Times.
The leadership change comes shortly after UBS's main Swiss
rival, Credit Suisse Group AG, ousted its CEO. Tidjane Thiam left
Feb. 13 and Credit Suisse's new CEO, Thomas Gottstein, started on
Friday. Credit Suisse's chairman said on Feb. 7 that the board had
lost confidence in Mr. Thiam's ability to move the bank past a
spying scandal that has engulfed the bank since September and
triggered a regulatory investigation. The targets of the spying
included Mr. Khan, the executive now at UBS.
Mr. Khan left Credit Suisse in July and was hired by UBS in
August, to start Oct. 1, 2019. While he was still a Credit Suisse
employee in the interim, Credit Suisse's chief operating officer
hired investigators to follow Mr. Khan to make sure he wasn't
trying to poach staff or clients. Mr. Khan spotted a man following
him on Sept. 17, triggering a police investigation.
A second spying incident at the bank became public in December,
and the bank's governance around the surveillance is now being
studied by Swiss regulators.
Write to Margot Patrick at margot.patrick@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 19, 2020 19:26 ET (00:26 GMT)
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