UBS is poaching a high-ranking human resources executive from J.P. Morgan, finews.com has learned. Her hire comes as the Swiss bank grapples with a rape case.
The Zurich-based bank is hiring Cicilia Wan as its group-wide head of employee relations, effective mid-January, a person familiar with the matter told finews.com. She is currently head of employee compliance at J.P. Morgan for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
A spokesman for UBS confirmed Wan's hire. She will be based in London, where UBS is dealing with a rape accusation made by a former graduate employee against her then-superior at the bank.
UBS Under Pressure
UBS is under pressure over the matter, which is part of a police investigation. The victim has slammed UBS’ handling of the case as «flawed» and said an outside law firm effectively whitewashed the bank.
Wan's job is also a new one for UBS, which had previously delegated employee relations to its regions. By contrast, Wan is responsible across all of UBS. A source familiar with the matter said the search to fill the role predates the rape case surfacing (it entered the public domain in July, when the alleged victim wrote to then-investment bank head Andrea Orcel about the incident, which took place last year).
Reckoning With Cultural Ills
Wan is a former employment lawyer who began her banking career at Goldman Sachs in corporate employee relations. The rape case has become a closely-watched litmus test over how the City handles harassment cases, against the backdrop of a broad reckoning with cases of mobbing or other misconduct that have long run rampant in investment banking culture.
Wan is expected to take on all employee-related matters such as investigations concerning employees, but also for improving the culture of workplace behavior. The alleged rape victim, a woman who has since left UBS, has met with Ursula la Roche, the bank's head of investigations. Her alleged attacker has also since left UBS.
Prominent Reporting Line
Earlier this month, UBS disclosed a host of measures designed to stamp out sexual misconduct including a hotline aside from its whistleblowing channels, and beefed up training for human resource officers tasked with dealing with cases of workplace aggression.
Wan's reporting line underscores the importance of her hire: she reports to human resources chief Stephan Seiler, who in turn reports to UBS' operating chief Sabine Keller-Busse.
