Sergio Ermotti's nomination as chairman of Swiss Re was a major coup for the UBS boss. The career step is however also revealing in many ways, because it shows how narrow the pool of experienced executives is in Switzerland.
Walter Kielholz (pictured below) has been chairman of a major Swiss money firm for the past 17 years. First, from 2003 through 2009, he presided over Credit Suisse, and since then he acted as overseer at Swiss Re.
At Credit Suisse, the much-maligned Urs Rohner has remained on board ever since Kielholz had installed him as his successor. By making Sergio Ermotti his successor at the world's second-largest reinsurer, he assured his influence over the second of the companies he oversaw for years.
Narrow Horizon
Of the six big listed banks and insurers in Switzerland – UBS, Credit Suisse, Julius Baer, Swiss Re, Zurich und Swiss Life – only UBS has a chairman (Axel Weber), whose career didn't culminate at one of those six. The former professor and chairman of the Bundesbank had a major influence over the radical change in strategy to wealth management in 2012.
Of course, none of which means that the other chairmen lack the necessary qualifications. However, the lack of imagination revealed in the search for new personnel may also reflect the strategic process of the companies.
The Swiss financial market faces serious strategic challenges. To keep such lumbering giants ready to meet the future in face of the digital challenge, of demands by a young clientele and of low interest rates, requires a strong sense of flexibility and creativity.
Instead, Kielholz' choice of the outgoing UBS CEO shows how narrow the horizon still is in the Swiss financial market, despite globalization. Ermotti's powerplay over the past two years clearly cost him the chance to succeed Weber on the seat of chairman.
Lacher's Good Marks
Whether these will prove the right conditions to engender a sense of excitement and departure at Swiss Re may be open to question. The more cerebral staff of the reinsurer are probably inclined to other incentives than the bankers that Ermotti has led for more than 30 years.
Romeo Lacher (pictured above), the top man at Bank Julius Baer, had earned very high marks for his work as chairman of SIX, the stock exchange operator. Until mid-month he will still lead both firms before concentrating on the job at the private bank.
The banker joined the executive of the Credit Suisse wealth management in 2004, at a time when the business still was one of discretion and service-mindedness. At Julius Baer, he will need to oversee a belated change of culture.
SIX Appointments
At SIX, the infrastructure firm that works for Swiss banking and is owned by Swiss banking, is also an example for how small the market for top executives still is: Lacher became chairman because his predecessor Alexandre Zeller moved to the strategy board of Credit Suisse and assumed the chairmanship of Credit Suisse Switzerland. Today, he is a partner at private bank Lombard Odier.
Lachers successor, Thomas Wellauer, retired from his job as chief operating officer of Swiss Re in mid-2019 after nine years. His first job as board member was as CEO of Winterthur Insurance, which in 1997 shortly after he had taken over was bought by Credit Suisse.
There, he briefly was the line manager of Lacher, before he departed the bank amid a chaotic restructuring. Before returning to the financial market, he worked for Clariant, a chemicals maker, and then for Novartis in Basel.
Old Friends at Credit Suisse?
There are plenty of signs that the next vacancy at the top of a Swiss financial-services company will be filled by a local veteran. Urs Rohner's departure as head of Credit Suisse is slated for spring 2021.
The names of potential successors are well known in financial circles: ex-central banker Philipp Hildebrand or Ulrich Koerner, who left the board of UBS last year.
Influential Honorary Chairman
A third name that circulated wasn't a big surprise, given his network: Alexander Gut (picture above). With his resignation from the board, the option of having the son of honorary chairman Rainer Gut installed as chairman seems removed – it would definitely have smacked of nepotism.
