UBS Brings Back Ermotti As CEO To Oversee Credit Suisse Deal

(Bloomberg) -- UBS Group AG said Sergio Ermotti is returning as chief executive officer, replacing Ralph Hamers after just over two years in charge, as it taps the veteran banker to oversee the complicated acquisition of Credit Suisse Group AG. 

Ermotti, who is chairman of Swiss Re, is reprising a role he held for nine years, after the annual general meeting next week, according to a statement from the bank on Wednesday. Hamers is staying with the bank for a transition period.

UBS agreed to acquire its crosstown rival earlier this month after Credit Suisse lost the confidence of investors, clients and other banks. The first combination of two major banks in decades promises to be complex to pull off while offering a significant potential to expand the wealth management business that UBS has focused on.

Hamers “has agreed to step down to serve the interests of the new combination, the Swiss financial sector and the country,” UBS said in a statement. 

Ermotti served as CEO from 2011 until 2020. During his tenure he revamped governance policies after a rogue trader cost the bank billions of dollars and tilted the lender away from riskier trading and toward managing money. 

Hamers’ mission was to pull UBS into the digital age and grow by serving a wider group of affluent clients. Yet, a key part of that strategy fell away last year when the a deal to acquire US firm Wealthfront was scrapped.

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