UBS promoted its head of Swiss private banking into a new global role this week – minus one major market for the Swiss bank, it has emerged.
Christian Wiesendanger, boss of UBS' Swiss wealth management activities since 2010, will run the lead a unit which tailors investment bank-style products for the ultra-wealthy, the bank said on Monday.
finews.com called it promotion, given that IPS' 2,500 employees worldwide outnumber the 1,400 staff in Switzerland that Wiesendanger previously oversaw.
IPS employs hundreds of experts, many of them former investment bankers, to draw up individualized products for the Swiss bank's wealthiest clients.
Global Co-Head
The statement didn't mention that Wiesendanger will actually share responsibilities with an American colleague, Jason Chandler (pictured below), as «Reuters» reported later in the day. Chandler, a veteran Paine Webber banker and former collegiate soccer captain, will run IPS' American counterpart, called wealth management Americas advice and solutions.
Wiesendanger and Chandler will share responsibility for global IPS as co-heads, as UBS later clarified to finews.com. The two will be responsible for fostering synergies and efficiencies on products and solutions within the two private banking divisions – global and American, the bank said.
Naratil's Push
Americas unit head Tom Naratil, who had spent five years in Zurich as UBS' finance chief, had pushed for a closer cooperation with headquarters since he returned the U.S. little more than a year ago.
Specifically, Wiesendanger will lead wealth management IPS, while Chandler is responsible for wealth management Americas IPS. The two will report to private bank head Juerg Zeltner as well as Naratil, who has made strides in the U.S. in profitability and revamping how UBS recruits.
