SAN Banco Santander SA

By Fareed Sahloul

Of Financial News

UBS Group AG (UBS) is changing the structure and leadership of its investment bank, as the executives who took control of the division a year ago look to stabilize performance.

Piero Novelli and Robert Karofsky, who succeeded Andrea Orcel as co-heads of UBS's investment bank in September 2018, will confirm the reorganization this week, according to a report by Bloomberg.

UBS declined to comment.

Ros Stephenson and Javier Oficialdegui will be named global co-heads of UBS's investment banking teams, which advise companies on mergers and acquisitions and raising money in the capital markets. Brendan Connolly, who leads UBS's leveraged debt capital markets group, will be given control of a revamped unit bringing together the bank's DCM and equity capital markets desks.

These more traditional banking services were heavily promoted under Orcel, who sought to take UBS back to its core strengths in equities and advisory, and away from bond trading during his five years in charge of the investment bank.

The Italian left UBS to become chief executive of long-time client Banco Santander SA (SAN.MC), a move that ultimately ended in disappointment for the high-profile banker when the Spanish group reversed its decision to make him CEO.

Novelli and Karofsky have since overseen successive quarters of mixed performance at UBS's investment bank, including one described as the worst in recent times by the group's chief executive Sergio Ermotti.

UBS was able to buck a trend of falling revenues from M&A in the second quarter; its advisory bankers generated a 60% year-on-year rise in fees to $628 million. It was also a strong quarter for its equity underwriting unit, where revenues jumped 23% to $235 million. Performance in debt capital markets was flat.

But the gains from investment banking were wiped out by performance at the Swiss bank's sales and trading business, where revenues slumped by 14% to $1.3 billion; fixed income--heavily scaled back under Orcel--dropped 22% to $309 million, while its stock-trading unit slipped 9% to $940 million.

As part of the new round of leadership changes, UBS's sales and trading businesses will be brought together under Jason Barron, current head of equities, and George Athanasopoulos, who runs foreign exchange, rates and currencies.

Website: www.fnlondon.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 05, 2019 05:54 ET (09:54 GMT)

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