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Sergio Ermotti

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Sergio Ermotti
Ermotti in 2012
Born
Sergio Pietro Ermotti

(1960-05-11) 11 May 1960 (age 64)
Lugano, Switzerland
OccupationCEO
EmployerUBS
Term2011-2020 & April 2023–present
PredecessorRalph Hamers
Board member of
SpouseTina Ermotti
Children2

Sergio Pietro Ermotti (born 11 May 1960) is a Swiss manager and investment banker.[1] In April 2021, Ermotti was elected chairman of Swiss Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, succeeding Walter Kielholz. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of UBS Group AG from November 2011 to October 2020 and regained that position in 2023. [2] He is also a board member of the Institute of International Finance.[3]

Ermotti took over as Group CEO at UBS after the 2011 rogue trader scandal, implementing strict corporate policies governing community standards. He initiated a major restructuring of the bank, redefining strategy, putting wealth management and Swiss business at its centre, alongside asset management and a more focused and capital-light investment banking. Leading the firm for nearly a decade, he was the longest serving head of UBS.[4][5] In February 2020, UBS announced that Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group, would be succeeding Ermotti as Group CEO on 1 November 2020. Following the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS, Ermotti was appointed to lead the UBS Group again, replacing Hamers on 5 April 2023.[6]

It has been speculated that he might transition into Swiss politics after his career in banking.[7] He ruled out entering select political races for the Bundesrat stating that he was "not a politician."[8] In addition to English, Ermotti speaks Italian, German, and French fluently.

Early life and education

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Sergio Pietro Ermotti was born on 11 May 1960 in Lugano, Switzerland, an Italian-speaking city. After secondary school he pursued aspirations of being a professional footballer or sports teacher. Before turning 18 and enrolling in college to fulfill these aspirations, Ermotti decided to fill his time with an apprenticeship at the Cornèr Bank in Lugano, where his father was employed, to "get up to speed with accounting, finance, and so on."[9][10] He invested part of his earnings into a high-yield bond, and at the end of his apprenticeship bought himself a motorbike.[10] Fascinated by foreign exchange trading, he started a training program in the Securities Department of the bank. He received a Swiss federal banking expert diploma and, later in his banking career, attended the Advanced Management Program at Oxford University.[11][12]

Banking career

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After his apprenticeship at the Cornèr Bank, Ermotti was later promoted to trading.[9] In 1986, Ermotti moved to Citibank in Zurich where he traded equity-linked products and later served as its Resident Vice President.[13] In 1987, he went on to the Swiss office of the US investment bank Merrill Lynch in Zurich,[14] 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 Switzerland.[13] In 1993, he was promoted to the position of managing director and moved to London to lead the European equity derivatives unit.[13] Three years later, in 1996, Ermotti relocated to New York, as a head of global derivatives trading where he also worked after his promotion to co-head[15] of global equity markets and a member of the executive management committee for global markets & investment banking at Merrill Lynch.[16][17]

He joined the Italian bank UniCredit in Milan in December 2005 as head of markets & investment banking[18] after UniCredit had taken over German bank, HypoVereinsbank (HVB).[19] From 2007, he was UniCredit's deputy chief executive officer with responsibility for the strategic business area, corporate and investment banking and private banking. When he was not offered the CEO position after the resignation of the then CEO Alessandro Profumo, he left Unicredit in October 2010.[20] [21][22] Ermotti was appointed chairman and chief executive of UBS's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) 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.[23] 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."[23]

Because of his new responsibility as CEO, he resigned from his position as a president of Darwin Airline in 2011.[24] 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' 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.[25][26] When UBS AG was converted into a holding company in 2014, Ermotti was elected Group CEO of UBS Group AG. In 2015, the Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag named him as the most successful manager of a company listed on the Swiss Market Index.[27] His salary in fiscal year 2017 was estimated to be US$14.9 million.[28]

In February 2020, UBS announced that Ralph Hamers CEO of ING Group would succeed Sergio Ermotti as CEO on 1 November 2020.[29][30] Following the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS, Ermotti was appointed to lead the UBS Group again, replacing Hamers on 5 April 2023.[6]

Chairmanships and board memberships

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In March 2020, Swiss Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, nominated Sergio P. Ermotti for election to Swiss Re's board of directors and announced its intention to onboard him as its next chairman, succeeding Walter Kielholz in 2021. [31]

Sergio Ermotti is a board member (lead non-executive director) of Ermenegildo Zegna N.V.[32] He is also a board member of Innosuisse – Swiss Innovation Agency. [33]

Personal life

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Ermotti is married with two sons.[34][10] His favorite movies are George Roy Hill's The Sting and Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.[35] He supports the Swiss football club FC Lugano and the Italian football club A.C. Milan.[36] Ermotti owns a villa in Montagnola and a holiday home in Engadin.[10]

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.[37]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "UBS: Sergio Ermotti as Chairman?". finews.asia. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Neuer UBS-Chef Ermotti - Der richtige Mann für den schwierigsten Job der Schweiz?". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). 29 March 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  3. ^ "board member".
  4. ^ "UBS: Sergio Ermotti as Chairman?". finews.asia. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  5. ^ Clark, Simon (3 March 2020). "Swiss Re Picks UBS CEO Ermotti as Next Chairman". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  6. ^ a b Tan, Joanna; Lee, Jihye (29 March 2023). "UBS names Sergio Ermotti as new Group CEO, following acquisition of Credit Suisse". CNBC.
  7. ^ "Sergio Ermotti for President?". finews.asia. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  8. ^ Atkins, Ralph (19 July 2017). "UBS CEO rules out filling vacancy in Swiss cabinet". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  9. ^ a b Martinuzzi, Elisa (3 October 2017). "How UBS Became Home to Half the World's Billionaires". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  10. ^ a b c d Schätti, Guido; Honegger, Lorenz (19 March 2024). "Capitano Ermotti: Der UBS-Chef kommt von unten und wollte ganz nach oben. Die entscheidende Lektion lehrte ihn der Fussball" [Captain Ermotti: The UBS CEO comes from below and wanted to go to the top. The decisive lesson was taught him by football]. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German).
  11. ^ "Sergio Ermotti". NZZ.ch (in German). Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  12. ^ "Sergio P. Ermotti". Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  13. ^ a b c "Sergio Ermotti. Schweizer Bankmanager; UBS". Munzinger Online/Personen - Internationales Biographisches Archiv (in German). Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  14. ^ "UBS Names Sergio Ermotti as Chief Executive". NY Times. 15 November 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  15. ^ "Tale Of Two Bankers: Bob McCann, Sergio Ermotti Are Reinventing Wall Street". Forbes. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  16. ^ "Meet the man to replace Grübel". Financial News. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  17. ^ "UBS Appoints an American As Its Chief Financial Officer". NY Times. 3 December 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  18. ^ "Im dritten Anlauf auf den Chefposten" (in German). NZZ. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  19. ^ "UBS sagt Ermotti und Weber zu" (in German). Manager Magazin. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  20. ^ "UniCredit's investment bank chief Sergio Ermotti". Reuters. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  21. ^ "Sergio Ermotti lascerà Unicredit" (in Italian). ticinonews.ch. 27 October 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  22. ^ "UBS Boss Sergio Ermotti Headed for Unicredit?". finews.ch. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  23. ^ a b Werdigier, Julia (11 November 2011). "UBS Names Sergio Ermotti as Chief Executive". DealBook. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  24. ^ "Ermotti to play swiss card in UBS CEO contest". finenews.ch. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  25. ^ Agini, Samuel (26 September 2018). "Santander poaches new CEO from UBS — former head of investment banking Andrea Orcel". MarketWatch. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  26. ^ Clarke, Paul (26 September 2018). "Andrea Orcel rules out big M&A at Santander". Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  27. ^ "Schweiz am Sonntag manager". Schweiz am Sonntag. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  28. ^ "UBS CEO Ermotti's pay rises to $14.92 million". Reuters. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  29. ^ Morris, Stephen; Megaw, Nicholas; Smith, Robert (20 February 2020). "UBS names ING's Ralph Hamers as next chief executive". Financial Times. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  30. ^ "Ralph Hamers to leave ING". ING.com. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  31. ^ "Sergio P. Ermotti to be nominated for election to Swiss Re's Board of Directors in 2020 and to be nominated as Chairman in 2021 | Swiss Re".
  32. ^ "Board of directors | Ermenegildo Zegna Group". Zegna Group. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  33. ^ Agency, Innosuisse-Swiss Innovation. "The Board". www.innosuisse.ch. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  34. ^ Shotter, James; Schäfer, Daniel (13 April 2014). "Sergio Ermotti, chief executive, UBS". Financial Times. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  35. ^ Wachtel, Katya (6 December 2018). "Is UBS Grooming This "Impeccably Dressed" Man To Be CEO?". Business Insider. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  36. ^ Guererra, Francesco. "An audience with Sergio Ermotti: Tutto bene?". Financial Times London. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  37. ^ "UBS's 'Mr Cool' takes the Ice Bucket Challenge - Video". HITC Business. 29 August 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
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CV Sergio Ermotti on Swiss Re website

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