By Adria Calatayud


UBS Group said it would reshuffle its executive board, splitting leadership of its key wealth-management division in two and bidding farewell to the last chief of Credit Suisse, the troubled banking rival it took over last year.

The Swiss bank said Thursday that Ulrich Koerner, chief of Credit Suisse before the UBS takeover, would step down from the board at the end of June after a merger of UBS and Credit Suisse's key legal entities and retire later this year.

Koerner took the helm at Credit Suisse in August 2022 in a last-ditch effort to stabilize the bank after financial losses and scandals. His appointment brought a sweeping overhaul, but customers, investors and policymakers lost faith in the bank amid the banking crisis early last year, leading to a rescue by UBS.

The changes announced Thursday mark the progress made on UBS's integration with Credit Suisse, while acknowledging the growing significance of the Asian region to the Swiss banking giant. Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said the changes put more emphasis on the group's long-term priorities and growth prospects, particularly in the Americas and Asia-Pacific.

In the reshuffle, UBS also appointed new presidents for Asia-Pacific and the Americas and co-heads of its key global wealth management business, splitting the management role in two by region. Wealth management is UBS's profit engine--it was the biggest contributor to the group's underlying profit last year--and its the business most prized by investors.

Iqbal Khan, who previously led the wealth management business as a whole, will head the Asia-Pacific business, while Rob Karofsky--head of the investment bank until now--will become president of UBS Americas, the bank said.

The appointments position the wealth executives for potential promotion to the top job at UBS, according to Vontobel analyst Andreas Venditti.

"With these changes, Iqbal [Khan] and Rob [Karofsky] are the prime candidates for UBS's CEO job, once Sergio Ermotti retires, likely in a few years," Venditti wrote in a note to clients.

UBS previously signaled Ermotti, who was brought back as CEO last year shortly after the Credit Suisse deal, was committed to stay to see through the Credit Suisse integration, if not longer.

Elsewhere, Edmund Koh--president of UBS Asia-Pacific--will step down from the board, and Naureen Hassan--UBS Americas president--has decided to retire, UBS said.

The group named George Athanasopoulos and Marco Valla as co-presidents of its investment bank and members of the group executive board.

UBS appointed Damian Vogel as chief risk officer and member of its executive board, succeeding Christian Bluhm, who delayed his retirement last year to support the first phase of the Credit Suisse integration.


Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-30-24 0429ET