UBS heavyweight Andrea Orcel is leaving the Swiss bank after six years. The veteran dealmaker is getting his wish to run a European banking giant.

European dealmaker Andrea Orcel is leaving UBS at the end of this month – and heading for Madrid, where he will run Santander, the two banks said in parallel statements on Tuesday.

Orcel, a prolific rainmaker who has run UBS' investment bank since 2012, has never made a secret of his professional ambitions. Two years ago, he unabashedly told an interviewer that «of course» he eventually wanted to run a bank.

Next year, he will begin doing so: Santander is hiring the 55-year-old Italian as CEO from early next year. 


The move is a blow for UBS, where Orcel has successfully ramped down risk as part of CEO Sergio Ermotti's focus on private banking. He will be replaced by Piero Novelli, a fellow European dealmaking heavyweight to Orcel, and Robert Karofsky, who runs UBS' equities arm.

The move is also bittersweet for Ermotti, who had relied heavily on Orcel (the two share Italian as their native tongue). «I want to personally thank Andrea for the outstanding work he did while at UBS. We worked together very well and, both as a friend and professionally, I congratulate him on his new appointment and wish him all the best.» 

Orcel's move from London to Spain also adds a twist to the race to succeed Ermotti, who is in his seventh year running UBS. Ermotti plans to remain through 2022, together with Chairman Axel Weber, according to the latter man.