UBS nailed down the surprise of appointment of Ralph Hamers as its next CEO after it learned the Dutch banker was in the running for the top job with a key European rival, finews.com has learned.

The new CEO of UBS, Ralph Hamers, was also being wooed by HSBC for its top job, a source familiar with the matter told finews.com. Talks between the long-standing ING boss and the British lender spurred the Swiss bank’s board to lock down its succession process, the person said.

The news is another puzzle piece in the dizzying flurry of C-suite changes in European banking which has seen CEO changes at Credit Suisse and UBS in the last four weeks. HSBC, by contrast, unveiled a new strategy but maintained its «interim» CEO while apparently continuing to search for a permanent replacement.

Decisive Search Move

At UBS, Chairman Axel Weber and Hamers first more seriously discussed an offer for the Swiss bank’s top job roughly two years ago, the person said. However, UBS’ board elected to move far more decisively to win Hamers after it learned he was in the running at HSBC.

«There was a desire to make things more concrete and move forward,» the person said. A spokesman for HSBC didn't comment; ING and Hamers didn’t respond to a request for comment. UBS told finews.com «It is wrong to speculate that our succession planning was influenced or driven by third-party banks.»

HSBC: Still Searching

The Swiss bank unveiled the surprise succession choice ten days ago. Sergio Ermotti, who has run UBS since late 2011, and Hamers will work together for two months before the Dutch banker takes over on November 1. The «Financial Times» first reported HSBC's interest in Hamers.

In the C-suite of European banks, HSBC is still searching after Unicredit boss Jean Pierre Mustier said he will stay in his job at the Italian lender. Meanwhile, Barclays CEO Jes Staley – a UBS director for five months in 2015 before leaving for the top job at the British bank – is reportedly under pressure from an activist investor over his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.