(Bloomberg) — UBS Group AG is reorganizing its global wealth management arm in the first major move by its new chief executives Rob Karofsky and Iqbal Khan, pursuing its long-term goal of bringing more investment services to the grassroots of its ultra-wealthy clients.
As part of the move, UBS will create a new unit — called GWM Solutions — that will bring its various wealth offerings under one roof, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News.
Former Credit Suisse wealth banker Yves-Alain Sommerhalder will lead the unit, which includes offerings such as investment management, lending, family and institutional wealth and alternative investments, the memo said.
As part of the push, it's Michael Camacho merger with UBS, the memo said. The JPMorgan Chase & Co. veteran will lead U.S. wealth management and will start in September.
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The organizational changes come about a month since UBS announced a new leadership the structure. In May, investment bank chief Karofsky was appointed to run its US business and jointly oversee the wealth with Khan, who was the sole head previously. Khan will relocate to Asia and was also named president of the Asia-Pacific region.
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Both bankers, who are seen as potential successors to Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti, are venturing into new territory to expand their knowledge of the overall firm. Khan has spent most of his career in wealth management, while Karofsky has market experience.
UBS is making rapid progress with the integration of Credit Suisse, which it took over last year in a rescue orchestrated by the Swiss government. Part of that includes building in the US.
The lender also decided to make Latin America a new business unit led by Marcello Chilov, “recognizing its significantly increased size and potential.”
At the end of last year, activist investor Cevian Capital AB took a stake in UBS, betting the bank could use the Credit Suisse takeover to double its share price and secure its place as the number one global wealth manager.
New unit
UBS is looking to the new unit to give new impetus to a model that both UBS and Credit Suisse have long followed: Connecting their client base of wealthy families and individuals, often entrepreneurs or company owners, with investment banking advice and asset management.
Sommerhalder, a Credit Suisse veteran, will work out of New York and Zurich, leading a business that will “bring all client solutions into a single facility,” according to the memo.
UBS is launching a new “agnostic” Global Alternatives business to deepen its links with limited partners across the globe “to capture higher returns and diversify their portfolios”. The unit will combine the portfolio of single and multi-asset alternative managers of the bank's wealth and asset management businesses.
The unified global banking unit will be led by Jason Hutchings with the aim of creating more affluent clients seeking investment banking advice, such as entrepreneurs selling their companies. She will report to Sommerhalder and Javier Oficialdegui, head of the bank's global investment bank.
More changes:
- Jason Chandler will become chairman of GWM Americas
- Patrick Grob, head of UGM, will move to APAC
- UGA, the alternatives business, will be led by Johannes Roth and Jerry Pascucci, reporting to Sommerhalder and chief asset manager Aleksandar Ivanovic