Cembra Money Bank is adding the former co-head of UBS' flagship wealth management division to its board. The Swiss consumer lender is also replacing its CEO next year.
The Zurich-based bank is adding Martin Blessing to its board next year, it said in a statement on Thursday. The German banker most recently spent four years at UBS, first as the head of its domestic unit and then as co-head of its $2.6 trillion private bank.
It is the second board mandate for Blessing, who one half of Germany's banking power couple: his wife, Dorothee Blessing, is J.P. Morgan's top investment banker in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Martin Blessing in June took a board job at Dankse Bank, a Danish bank which is embroiled in one of the world's biggest money laundering investigations.
CEO Succession Search
Cembra also said long-standing CEO Robert Oudmayer (pictured below) plans to retire next year. Oudmayer will run Cembra until his successor takes over in order to ensure a smooth transition phase, the bank said. It has already begun searching for his replacement.
At the board level, Blessing as well as another German banker, Susanne Kloess-Braekler (pictured below) will replace Peter Athanas and Urs Baumann, two directors who will not stand for reelection.
Kloess-Braekler was in top management of Deutsche Bank's domestic business until earlier this year, when she left as part of a slimming.
