UBS Group AG
Leadership History
3 leaders · 2011 to present
Sergio Ermotti is the CEO of UBS, in the role since 2023.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sergio P. Ermotti | Group Chief Executive Officer | 2023 | Present | 3 |
| Colm Kelleher | Chairman of the Board | 2022 | Present | 4 |
| Sergio P. Ermotti | Group Chief Executive Officer | 2011 | 2020 | 9 |
UBS is less a traditional bank than a global private-wealth platform with a large Swiss banking base and selective investment banking capabilities. The Credit Suisse acquisition increased scale but made execution the central story. The company is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.
UBS earns most of its money from wealth management: recurring fees charged on client assets, transaction commissions, and net interest income on deposits and Lombard loans to wealthy clients. Global Wealth Management is the largest division, serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients across the Americas, Switzerland, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Personal & Corporate Banking makes it the leading universal bank in Switzerland, earning interest and fees from households and companies. Asset Management collects management fees on institutional and fund mandates. The Investment Bank earns advisory, capital markets and trading revenue, kept deliberately smaller than Wall Street peers. Non-core and Legacy runs down inherited Credit Suisse positions.
Group Chief Executive Officer
2023 – Present
3 years (current)
Ermotti was urgently reappointed as CEO in 2023 specifically to execute the massive, government-mandated emergency rescue acquisition of failing rival Credit Suisse.
During his first tenure (2011-2020), he completely transformed UBS, aggressively slashing its highly risky investment bank and pivoting the entire company toward ultra-high-net-worth wealth management.
Chairman of the Board
2022 – Present
4 years (current)
Kelleher brutally negotiated the terms of the Credit Suisse takeover, forcing the complete wipeout of $17 billion in AT1 bonds to protect UBS shareholders from massive catastrophic losses.
As Chairman, the highly aggressive former Morgan Stanley president oversees the incredibly complex, multi-year integration that establishes UBS as the undisputed monopoly in Swiss banking.
Group Chief Executive Officer
2011 – 2020
9 years
Ermotti was urgently reappointed as CEO in 2023 specifically to execute the massive, government-mandated emergency rescue acquisition of failing rival Credit Suisse.
During his first tenure (2011-2020), he completely transformed UBS, aggressively slashing its highly risky investment bank and pivoting the entire company toward ultra-high-net-worth wealth management.
UBS faces Credit Suisse systems integration, legacy litigation, Swiss too-big-to-fail regulation, capital requirements, client retention risk, banking-market cycles, and competition from Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Julius Baer, and regional private banks.
Key leaders include merger architect Marcel Ospel (CEO 1998–2001, Chairman 2001–2008), Peter Wuffli (2001–2007), Oswald Grübel (2009–2011), Ralph Hamers (2020–2023), and Sergio Ermotti (CEO 2011–2020 and 2023–present).
Marcel Ospel engineered the 1998 merger creating UBS and acquired PaineWebber in 2000. However, his aggressive push into US subprime mortgage securitization led to UBS's near-collapse and his forced resignation as Chairman in 2008.
Peter Wuffli was forced out in July 2007 following early heavy subprime mortgage losses within UBS's internal hedge fund Dillon Read Capital Management (DRCM), which Wuffli had championed.
Former Credit Suisse CEO Oswald Grübel was brought out of retirement in 2009 to restore profitability and morale at UBS; he stabilized the bank and repaid Swiss government aid before resigning over the 2011 rogue trader scandal.
Ermotti transformed UBS from a wounded investment bank into the world's leading wealth manager, cutting 10,000 jobs, shuttering complex fixed-income trading desks, tripling the bank's CET1 capital ratio, and returning billions to shareholders.
Former ING CEO Ralph Hamers focused on agile working methods, digital transformation, and automated advisory tools, before stepping aside when the board required an executive with crisis-merger experience to absorb Credit Suisse.
Chairman Colm Kelleher realized that integrating Credit Suisse was the most complex restructuring in banking history, requiring Ermotti's deep credibility with Swiss regulators, knowledge of UBS culture, and proven integration track record.
Colm Kelleher, former President of Morgan Stanley, became Chairman of UBS in 2022. He orchestrated the Credit Suisse rescue negotiations, appointed Ermotti, and provides Wall Street institutional governance oversight.
Ermotti restructured the Group Executive Board, appointing trusted UBS lieutenants to head Swiss domestic banking, integrating risk functions, and hiring former Credit Suisse leaders like Ulrich Körner to manage the transition.
The board has identified and rotated a shortlist of internal senior executives across business divisions, aiming for a smooth leadership handover after Ermotti completes the core Credit Suisse integration phase in 2026–2027.
Ermotti and Kelleher maintain close dialogue with the Swiss Federal Department of Finance (FDF), FINMA, and the Swiss National Bank, navigating debates over "Too-Big-to-Fail" capital rules and national banking resilience.
A belief in disciplined risk management, capital preservation over speculative trading, strict cost accountability, and an uncompromising commitment to client trust and Swiss fiduciary excellence.
Compare executive leadership tenures and strategic transitions
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