UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti tapped Tom Naratil, the bank’s former top Americas executive, to head UBS’s integration of Credit Suisse and to serve as the combined bank’s CFO, according to Bloomberg.
Naratil held many senior positions throughout his tenure at UBS, including CFO and co-head of wealth management, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He stepped down late last year from his role as co-president of global wealth management over strained relations with then-UBS boss Ralph Hamers, NZZ magazine reported.
UBS expects the merger to wrap up this month, though Chairman Colm Kelleher said the integration might take up to four years because of the deal’s complexity, Bloomberg noted.
For his core team, Ermotti apparently prefers to work with bankers he trusts and has worked with, NZZ noted.
Until his departure in October, Naratil worked with Iqbal Khan, UBS’s other co-president of global wealth management.
Ermotti is counting on Khan, UBS Switzerland President Sabine Keller-Busse, and UBS Chief Compliance Officer Markus Ronner to be a part of his executive team. Christian Bluhm, who announced his retirement last year to become a full-time photographer, will remain the chief risk officer “for the foreseeable future” to help with the integration, the lender said earlier.
It is not clear yet who will lead the legal department.
UBS brought back Ermotti last month to take the helm of a mega-merger wherein the Swiss government intervened and asked Credit Suisse’s rival to rescue the lender from collapse.
The UBS-Credit Suisse integration will mark the first time since 2008 that two global systemically important institutions have been combined.
Ermotti is also working to spin off the Swiss part of Credit Suisse, which was initially deemed “out of the question” due to rising public and political pressure, an insider told NZZ.
André Helfenstein is a preferred candidate to head the CS Switzerland, a move aimed at preventing him from leaving the bank, internal sources told the publication.
