Sergio Ermotti

Sergio Pietro Ermotti (born 11 May 1960) is a Swiss investment banker and former stock trader. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of UBS Group AG between November 2011 and November 2020. Ermotti is slated to succeed Walter Kielholz as the incoming chairman of Swiss Re, Switzerland's largest reinsurance company, in 2021. He previously served as the deputy chief executive for Italian bank UniCredit, from 2007 to 2010.

Sergio Ermotti
Born
Sergio Pietro Ermotti

(1960-05-11) 11 May 1960
Lugano, Switzerland
NationalitySwiss
Occupation
TermNovember 2011– November 2020
PredecessorOswald Grübel
SuccessorRalph Hamers
Spouse(s)Tina Ermotti
Children2

Leading UBS, Ermotti denounced the 2011 rogue trader scandal, implementing strict corporate policies governing community standards and initiated a major restructuring of the bank around private banking and limited its sell side operations.[1] Leading the firm for nearly a decade, he is the longest serving head of UBS.[2][3] In February 2020 UBS announced that Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group, would be succeeding Sergio Ermotti as CEO on 1 November.

It has been speculated that he might transition into Swiss politics after his career in banking.[4] He ruled out entering select political races for the Bundesrat stating that he was "not a politician".[5] In addition to English, Ermotti speaks Italian, German, and French fluently.

Early life and education

Sergio Pietro Ermotti was born on 11 May 1960 in Lugano, Switzerland, an Italian-speaking city. He left school at age 15 to pursue aspirations of being a footballer and skier. Before turning 18 and enrolling in college to fulfill theses aspirations, Ermotti decided to fill his time with an apprenticeship at the Cornèr Bank in Lugano to "get up to speed with accounting, finance, and so on".[1] At his apprenticeship, he learned to sell and trade stocks. Although Ermotti did not attend university,[6] he received a Swiss federal banking expert diploma and subsequently attended the Advanced Management Program at Oxford University.[7]

Banking career

After his apprenticeship as a stockbroker at the Cornèr Bank, Ermotti was later promoted to trading.[1] In 1985, Ermotti moved to Citibank in Zurich where he traded equity-linked products and later served as its Resident Vice President.[8] In 1987, he went on to the Swiss office of the US investment bank Merrill Lynch in Zurich,[9] and stayed with the bank for 16 years. He started with holding various positions in equity derivatives and capital markets, and contributed to the expansion of the capital market business of the bank in french-speaking parts of Switzerland.[8] In 1993, he was promoted to the position of Managing Director and moved to London being in charge for the European equity derivatives unit.[8] Three years later, in 1996, Ermotti relocated to New York, as a head of global derivatives trading.[10] He was eventually promoted to co-head of global equity markets and a member of the executive management committee for global markets & investment banking at Merrill Lynch, where he worked from 2001 to 2003.[11][12]

He joined the Italian bank UniCredit headquartered in Milan, in December 2005 as head of markets & investment banking.[13] At that point in time, UniCredit took over German bank, HypoVereinsbank (HVB).[14] From 2007, he was UniCredit's deputy chief executive officer with responsibility for the strategic business area, corporate and investment banking and private banking,[15] before leaving in 2010.[16][17] Ermotti was appointed chairman and chief executive of UBS's Europe, Middle East, and Africa group, and became a member of the group executive board in April 2011. He was appointed interim group CEO in September 2011, and permanently in November 2011.[18] In response to the 2011 UBS rogue trader scandal, Ermotti sent an internal memo stating: "I want to make clear that no one's personal interest nor any amount of revenue is worth more than the bank's reputation".[18]

Because of his new responsibility as CEO, he resigned from his position as a president of Darwin Airline in 2011.[19] Ermotti was a member of the board at the London Stock Exchange between September 2008 and July 2013. In 2012, he tapped a colleague from Merrill Lynch, Andrea Orcel, to lead UBS's investment banking arm, eventually assisting him in navigating the 2013 Libor trading scandal, a major corporate restructuring, and a major expansion of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity.[20][21] In November 2014, he became the CEO for UBS Group AG permanently. In 2015, the Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag named him as the most successful manager of a company listed on the Swiss Market Index.[22] His salary in fiscal year 2017 was estimated to be US$14.9 million.[23]

In February 2020 UBS announced that Ralph Hamers CEO of ING Group would be succeeding Sergio Ermotti as CEO on 1 November.[24][25] Swiss Re, Switzerland's largest reinsurance company, announced its intention to onboard Ermotti as its next chairman in 2021 succeeding Walter Kielholz.[26]

Personal life

As of April 2014, Ermotti was married with two children.[27] His favorite movies are George Roy Hill's The Sting and Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.[28] Ermotti speaks fluent Swiss Italian,[29] Swiss German,[30] Swiss French,[31] and English.[32] He supports Italian football club, A.C. Milan.[6]

Ermotti was challenged by Marc Walder, CEO of Swiss media company Ringier and Gianluigi Bianchi, managing partner for Europe of Wealth-X to undertake the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.[33]

See also

References
  1. Martinuzzi, Elisa (3 October 2017). "How UBS Became Home to Half the World's Billionaires". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  2. "UBS: Sergio Ermotti as Chairman?". finews.asia. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  3. Clark, Simon (3 March 2020). "Swiss Re Picks UBS CEO Ermotti as Next Chairman". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  4. "Sergio Ermotti for President?". finews.asia. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  5. Atkins, Ralph (19 July 2017). "UBS CEO rules out filling vacancy in Swiss cabinet". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  6. Guererra, Francesco. "An audience with Sergio Ermotti: Tutto bene?". Financial Times London. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  7. "Sergio Ermotti". NZZ.ch (in German). Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  8. "Sergio Ermotti.Schweizer Bankmanager; UBS". Munzinger Online/Personen - Internationales Biographisches Archiv (in German). Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  9. "UBS Names Sergio Ermotti as Chief Executive". NY Times. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  10. "Tale Of Two Bankers: Bob McCann, Sergio Ermotti Are Reinventing Wall Street". Forbes. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  11. "Meet the man to replace Grübel". Financial News. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  12. "UBS Appoints an American As Its Chief Financial Officer". NY Times. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  13. "Im dritten Anlauf auf den Chefposten" (in German). NZZ. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  14. "UBS sagt Ermotti und Weber zu" (in German). Manager Magazin. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  15. "UniCredit's investment bank chief Sergio Ermotti". Reuters. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  16. "Sergio Ermotti lascerà Unicredit" (in Italian). ticinonews.ch. 27 October 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  17. "UBS Boss Sergio Ermotti Headed for Unicredit?". finews.ch. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  18. Werdigier, Julia (11 November 2011). "UBS Names Sergio Ermotti as Chief Executive". DealBook. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  19. "Ermotti to play swiss card in UBS CEO contest". finenews.ch. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  20. Agini, Samuel (26 September 2018). "Santander poaches new CEO from UBS — former head of investment banking Andrea Orcel". MarketWatch. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  21. Clarke, Paul (26 September 2018). "Andrea Orcel rules out big M&A at Santander". Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  22. "Schweiz am Sonntag manager". Schweiz am Sonntag. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  23. "UBS CEO Ermotti's pay rises to $14.92 million". Reuters. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  24. Morris, Stephen; Megaw, Nicholas; Smith, Robert. "UBS names ING's Ralph Hamers as next chief executive". Financial Times. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  25. "Ralph Hamers to leave ING". ING.com. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  26. "Swiss Re lines up UBS CEO Ermotti to become chairman in 2021". Reuters. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  27. "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Retrieved 9 February 2018. Cite uses generic title (help)
  28. Wachtel, Katya (6 December 2018). "Is UBS Grooming This "Impeccably Dressed" Man To Be CEO?". Business Insider. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  29. USI Università della Svizzera italiana (24 May 2016), Svizzera: Ritorno al Futuro - Sergio Ermotti (in Italian), retrieved 15 May 2018
  30. "UBS Chef Sergio Ermotti ist gefordert von Davoser Schülern". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (in German). 23 January 2018.
  31. "Interview de Sergio Ermotti, CEO ad interim d'UBS: "Notre stratégie c'est d'être la plus grande et la meilleure banque de gestion de fortune au monde" - Vidéo - Play RTS". Play RTS (in French). 10 October 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  32. Miller, Matt (22 April 2018). "Ermotti Says UBS Investment Banking Unit Is About 'Growing and Being Successful'". Bloomberg Markets.
  33. "UBS's 'Mr Cool' takes the Ice Bucket Challenge - Video". HITC Business. 29 August 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
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