UBS' designated chairman is a Morgan Stanley lifer – though he almost ended up at Credit Suisse two decades ago.
The esprit de corps at Morgans Stanley is legendary: the U.S. bank is rich with bankers who have spent their entire career there. UBS' designated chairman, Colm Kelleher (pictured below), is one of them.
The 64-year-old Irish banker studied history at Oxford, coyly telling the «Financial Times» (behind paywall) last year that he would become a professor of Byzantine history «if I were clever enough.» Instead, he headed to Wall Street, where he fell in with John Mack, who started at Morgan Stanley as a salesman and worked his way up to CEO.
The bond between the two men is obvious: Keller put Mack next to Emperor Justinian (architect of the restoration of the Byzantine empire) in leaders he idolizes. Kelleher credited Mack «for his actions in holding Morgan Stanley together when things got very bleak.»
Having «Some Issues»
The ties were so strong that Kelleher nearly followed Mack to Credit Suisse First Boston in 2001. «Mack the Knife» famously branded CSFB at the time a «giant casino», valuing speculative bets and bonuses over long-term profits.
Kelleher almost followed Mack to Credit Suisse, he told the pink paper last year. «At the time Morgan Stanley was going through some issues.» He ultimately didn't because he felt moving too frequently risks being titled a professional gun for hire.
Balance Sheet Cuts
It proved wise: Mack was ousted by his then-co-CEO Oswald Gruebel in 2004. The American investment banker returned to Morgan Stanley the following year, replacing Philip Purcell as CEO.
Mack and Kelleher took up where they left off, with the latter banker taking on the chief financial officer job under his mentor during the financial crisis of 2008/09. Kelleher is credited with clamping down on Morgan Stanley's balance sheet as first Bear Stearns faltered and then Lehman Brothers collapsed in October 2008.
Swiss Triumvirate
Freely admitting he would have liked Morgan Stanley's board to name him CEO after Mack, he instead settled in under James Gorman, who nabbed the job in 2010 instead. He left the U.S. bank two years ago, though made it clear he was looking for his next job – and wanted to stay active into his 80s.
He now forms a Swiss triumvirate, together with incoming deputy Lukas Gaehwiler and CEO Ralph Hamers, provided shareholders vote the two men onto UBS' board in April. Credited by «The Irish Times» with a sarcastic sense of humor, Kelleher is likely to bring levity to Zurich: he was known at Morgan Stanley for occassionally locking meeting participants in to discourage tardiness.
