LONDON/ZURICH (Reuters) – UBS on Thursday announced a shake-up of its senior management, splitting its top wealth role between two executives who are both seen as potential successors to CEO Sergio Ermotti.
Ermotti told Reuters this month he wanted to “dramatically” increase the chances of an internal candidate taking over from him when he steps down in late 2026 or early 2027 once the integration of Credit Suisse is finished.
Below are the senior UBS executives impacted by the reshuffle and seen as candidates to lead the Swiss lender:
IQBAL KHAN
* Khan, who has been seen as the most likely successor to Ermotti, will share his wealth role from July and will also take charge of the Asia-Pacific region.
* A former Credit Suisse wealth head, 48-year old Khan joined UBS in 2019 to co-head its flagship division. He was considered a future CEO candidate at CS and when he left sources told Reuters he was mulling roles at several banks with the long-term goal of becoming a CEO.
* Khan, a Swiss national, was thrust into the spotlight after leaving CS when he confronted a private detective who was following him and his wife. The incident prompted a criminal complaint and eventually led to CS’s then-CEO leaving. Khan has since kept a low profile.
* Before joining CS he spent more than a decade at Ernst & Young and is a Swiss certified accountant. He studied at the University of Zurich.
ROB KAROFSKY
* The head of UBS’s investment bank, Karofsky becomes head of the Americas and co-president of global wealth management alongside Khan. He lacks experience in wealth – the crown jewel at UBS – but will now lead its drive in the United States.
* American Karofsky, 57, a veteran of equity markets who is said to start his day at 5 a.m. on the trading floor in New York, joined UBS in 2014 as head of equities.
* He joined the UBS global executive board in 2018 and was co-head of the investment bank before taking sole responsibility in 2021. He previously held senior trading roles at Deutsche Bank and AllianceBernstein and before that worked at Morgan Stanley.
BEATRIZ MARTIN JIMENEZ
* Jiminez, from Spain, is president of UBS EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and is head of the non-core and legacy business, a crucial unit tasked with ridding it of many of the assets it inherited from Credit Suisse.
* She joined UBS in 2012 and previously held roles in fixed income at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank. Earlier this year she was also made head of sustainability and impact.
SABINE KELLER-BUSSE
* One of UBS’s highest-ranking women, Keller-Busse has been heading the bank’s Swiss business since 2021. Previous roles include being group chief operating officer and president of UBS EMEA.
* A former McKinsey consultant and a Swiss and German national, she joined UBS in 2010 and is the first woman to lead the bank’s Swiss operations.
* Overseeing the Swiss bank has become a much more politically sensitive role now that UBS is Switzerland’s sole globally systemically important bank.
ALEKSANDAR IVANOVIC
* Ivanovic was named president of UBS’s asset management division in March, after previously heading client coverage globally.
* The Swiss national first joined UBS in 1992 as an apprentice, before working at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley and rejoining UBS in 2017.
* He has not been not seen as a frontrunner, largely because asset management has a lower profile at the bank than wealth and investment banking, generating less than 10% of revenue against wealth’s roughly 50%.
(Compiled by Stefania Spezzati, Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Oliver Hirt; Editing by David Holmes)
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