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Why is there a change at the top of the largest Swiss bank, the world’s largest asset manager, right now? After nine years, the former head of UBS, Sergio Ermotti, resigned. Until now Ermotti was supposed to lead the bank until 2021 to end the decade. It is not known why he left the bank early. The Ticino native did a good job at UBS in the beginning. Stabilized the bank after the turmoil of the financial crisis. Today, UBS is the world’s largest asset manager. However, not much has happened in recent years, and from a shareholder’s point of view, the UBS stock was a disappointment.
Why did the board of directors choose Hamers from the Netherlands? Although UBS is solid today, it is considered quite boring. Important impulses in the field of digitization are missing or not noticeable from the outside. For the board of directors, it is especially important that the bank implement digitization processes more quickly and initiate a cultural change in the hierarchically managed bank, almost militarily. Ralph Hamers is known in the industry for having the perfect track record for such a task. With the election of Hamer, the board of directors makes it clear: the bank must change.
What construction sites will Ralph Hamers find? The biggest problem is likely to be the culture within the bank. She is considered arrogant, rigid, and motivated by bonuses. Hamers will have to start here first. It has to make the bank’s internal processes more agile, that is, more flexible, so that digitization works in a sustainable way. That means that you will mainly have to break hierarchies. You will probably have to adjust your salary and bonus systems accordingly.
The new head of UBS, Hamers, previously worked in the Netherlands. What traces did he leave there? Hamers was a director of ING for the past seven years. A bank that is firmly anchored in the small client and loan business, much stronger than UBS. ING also operates internationally and with its 55,000 employees it is not much smaller than UBS. Hamers had completely rebuilt ING and made it more profitable. In doing so, he changed the organizational structure and reduced hierarchies. According to Hamer’s statements in various financial media, a bank no longer needs a large network of branches, but above all good mobile phone applications. You have a kind of “Facebook” or “Google banking” in mind. Banking clients must be part of a network through which they can obtain their services.
When will you be able to recognize the new signature in the bank? Hamers has yet to comment on his UBS plans. He has been employed by the bank since September 1. It took him three months to get familiar with everything in the company before he became CEO. The extent to which Hamers can actually implement his ideas at UBS depends largely on how he will drive the veteran UBS management forward. He does not want to appear in the media until the end of November at the earliest. But Hamers is not expected to make a complete change of strategy. You will act carefully and deliberately until you announce a specific strategy. A culture change takes time. It will take some time before this becomes visible.
