UBS is tasking its management in India to a banker who made sweeping changes to the way the bank works in Switzerland, London and elsewhere. His transfer to Asia is no coincidence, reports finews.com

For Zurich-based UBS, India is one of the world's fastest-growing private banking markets. The South Asian nation, home to corporate giants like Tata and Reliance, holds huge potential for UBS' capital markets and investment banking advice business. 

So when Aashish Kamat, who has run UBS' business in India since 2011, decided to leave, it would be safe to assume that the Swiss bank would appoint a wealth manager or an investment banker – preferably a local veteran with deep connections on the subcontinent.

Instead, Kamat will be replaced by Harald Egger, an executive parachuted in from UBS' Swiss headquarters.

1.2 Bankers per Workspace

The move is surprising: «Harry» Egger has spent none of his 25 years at UBS as a well-connected private banker, or as an investment banking rainmaker. Instead, he is best known as the inventor of «hot desking» at UBS – staff no longer have an assigned phone, desk or even laptops.

The concept, which effectively assigns bankers to workspace at a ratio of 1.2:1, was rolled out in UBS' back office in Zurich's outskirts of Altstetten. Roughly 25,000 of UBS 30,000 staff in Switzerland are subject to what the bank calls «Workplace for the Future.»

Is Switzerland the New India?

Egger has been head of sourcing for the past seven years, a job which means he is chief cost-cutter. When he moves from Zurich to Mumbai in the coming months, he will continue to report to Axel Lehmann, UBS' operating chief, as he does now.

How does a cost-cutter fit as the head of a burgeoning emerging market where the Swiss bank is considering ramping up its onshore presence again after four years absence?

The appointment has more to do with another trend currently unfolding at UBS: jobs are moving from low-cost centers back to Switzerland. Or as finews.com reported recently, Switzerland is the new India.