With Credit Suisse deal done, UBS sets team to lead wealth management

Now that UBS Group has completed its acquisition of Credit Suisse Group, the giant combined bank announced Monday the various teams that will lead the bank's businesses, including global wealth management.

Perhaps of most interest to financial advisors in the United States is who's not part of the merged companies. At the start of May, Bloomberg News reported that UBS Group Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti had tapped one of the bank's former executives, Tom Naratil, to be a key member of the new management team, citing a report published by a Swiss newspaper.

That never came to pass. Naratil, a 39-year veteran of the firm dating back to its Paine Webber incarnation who last fall stepped down from his roles as co-president of global wealth management and president of UBS Americas, is not part of the combined banks' executive board or its wealth management team.

That group is led by Iqbal Khan, president of global wealth management at UBS.

Outside the U.S., UBS and Credit Suisse competed for wealthy private banking and wealth management clients, particularly in Asia and Switzerland.

"We will have combined market leadership in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, and the power to rival the biggest players in the US market," Khan said in a statement. "And globally, we will have access to a broader set of wealth management, asset management and investment banking capabilities in order to deliver even more for our clients around the world."  

Yves-Alain Sommerhalder will be head of wealth management for Credit Suisse, reporting to Khan and Ulrich Koerner, according to the announcement, and Francesco De Ferrari will remain as a senior advisor to Khan and the combined leadership team.

Sommerhalder and Wiwi Gutmannsbauer, chief operating officer of global wealth management, will jointly lead global wealth management's integration team. Jason Chandler will remain as head of Americas wealth management, which has been his position since January.

Naratil did not immediately respond Monday to a message over LinkedIn to comment. According to his profile on the social media site, since January he has been a finance senior fellow in the department of social sciences at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Credit Suisse exited the U.S. wealth management industry in 2015 when it sold recruiting access to its 220 or so financial advisors to Well Fargo & Co. That means there’s no immediate overlap of advisor offices or capabilities in the United States, where UBS has close to 6,000 advisors, many of whom are consistently the most productive in the industry in terms of annual revenue.