Change on top of Switzerland?

The big bank has a new CEO and earnings stagnate in the domestic market. Speculation about a possible change of boss in Switzerland falls on fertile ground.

Coming soon to follow at UBS Switzerland Sabine Keller-Busse in Axel lehmann (Picture below)? A possible replacement for the head of the Swiss domestic market by the chief operating officer (COO) of the big bank is the German “Manager-Magazin” (Paid article) high. Now, the rumored change is being discussed in the Swiss media, and not without reason.

According to the report, Keller-Busse, 55, received the highest score in an internal management audit. That would qualify her to finally take on sales responsibility at the largest Swiss bank. According to the German magazine, the Swiss business is an option. This is feeling the crisis of the crown more clearly and had to make writedowns of $ 92 million in the last third quarter. Additionally, there was a drop in revenue at the major card business due to travel restrictions.

From COO to Head of Switzerland

In any case, the profit curve in the domestic market has long been pointing sideways, even if Lehmann cannot at least help with the effects of the pandemic. This will likely put the division at the top of the new CEO’s to-do list. Ralph hamers, as finews.ch analyzed.

At 61, Lehmann is a veteran financial professional. In December 2017, the former COO had been in charge of UBS Switzerland since Martin Blessing when he was appointed co-director of asset management. At the same time, then-HR manager Keller-Busse was promoted to COO. From COO to Head of Switzerland – this is the path that Lehmann, of all people, pioneered.

Before being appointed COO, he was a member of the UBS Board of Directors for more than six years. Before that, he worked for the Zurich insurer for almost 20 years, 14 of which as a member of the Executive Committee.

Switch to remote work without major technical problems

Although there is no direct age guillotine in UBS management, Hamers might conclude that younger workers in UBS’s domestic market could move up. A possible point in time for this would be after the Dutchman’s first 100 days in office, that is, in the spring of 2021. Keller-Busse can take care of having mastered the move to head office at UBS without major setbacks, you should be an experienced digitizer. as Hamers draws attention.

Also: “Manager-Magazin” has already shown a keen sense of the power structure at UBS. The newspaper reported early on a possible deviation from Blessing in asset management, which the big bank denied at the time. In August 2019, Blessing became a former manager of Credit Suisse. Iqbal Khan replaced.

The reaction to the rumored change is now much more relaxed at UBS: at the request of finews.ch the bank declined to comment.