UBS is moving an M&A banker into a role closely linked to its private banking arm. The move is a bid to win more business off the wealthy families among the Swiss bank's clientele.
The Zurich-based bank is naming investment banker Asu Okyay as head of corporate client solutions in its family office arm in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, according to a memorandum seen by finews.com.
Okyay, a 14-year veteran of the Swiss bank, is currently a managing director based in Zurich responsible for corporate development. In her new job, she will work closely with the private bank's family office practice, which competes with independent boutiques in catering to the financial needs of ultra-wealthy families. The bank confirmed the contents of the memo.
She will ensure that family offices are linked up to UBS' corporate client division, or CCS, which is what UBS calls the unit which provides advice and financing at its investment bank.
Wealthy Family Growth
UBS wants to telegraph growth with the move. «With our leading wealth management position with global family offices, our corporate client solutions ambition is to tap further into the growth potential of the family office sector and gain market share,» Javier Oficialdegui, who runs the corporate client unit in EMEA, said in the memo.
Oficialdegui co-signed the memo with family office head Sara Ferrari and Martin Kesselring, who runs the CCS arm in Switzerland. Turkey native Okyay previously worked as an investment banker in the industrials sector, as well as in mergers-and-acquisitions in Zurich.
Her promotion, first reported by trade publication «Financial News», comes shortly after UBS hired J.P. Morgan investment banker Susan Elolampi for virtually the same role in the Americas.
