The Swiss bank's outgoing chairman is a central figure in a court case between former top executive Andrea Orcel and Santander over a job offer that fell through.
UBS Chairman Axel Weber is due to testify on Wednesday in a high-profile court case playing out in Madrid between Andrea Orcel and Santander, «Reuters» reported on Wednesday. A veteran Italian dealmaker who now runs Unicredit, Orcel (pictured below) is suing the Spanish bank for backtracking on its CEO job offer in 2018.
Orcel left UBS, where he was investment banking chief and one of a group of potential successors as CEO, just over three years ago for the Santander job. After the Spanish bank yanked the job offer three months later, Orcel sued to be reinstated, or recompense.
«Leave And Lose»
UBS is emerging as a key tenet of the case because of money vested at UBS that Santander would have had to replace in return for him leaving. Weber as well as Mark Shelton, an UBS group managing director who oversees rewards, are due to testify in the case, «Reuters» reported.
The case underscores the gap in executive pay in wider Europe versus wealthy Switzerland. Weber, who has chaired UBS since 2011, has made clear that departing top executives can be expected to «leave and lose» stowed awards if they take jobs outside of UBS.
Enlisting Old Allies
Orcel has partly moved on: he abandoned his attempt for Santander to reinstate him after he joined Unicredit. There, he has enlisted a cadre of ex-UBS associates including investment banker Sam Kendall.
He also reduced his financial demands to a maximum of 76 million euros ($89 million), the newswire reported, citing sources. He had originally sought nearly double that. The Madrid court is expected to wrap up testimony in the case on Wednesday, according to «Reuters», and the judge is due to rule in coming days or weeks.
