By Abigail Summerville, Milana Vinn and David Carnevali
NEW YORK (Reuters) – UBS Group AG is poised to make sweeping leadership changes at its global investment banking division as early as Monday, marking a new milestone in the Credit Suisse integration process, people familiar with the matter said. The changes aim to create unified teams following the completion of UBS’s emergency takeover of Credit Suisse in June.
The changes are far-reaching and will affect multiple dealmaking groups, including healthcare, consumer/retail, financial sponsors and equity markets, the sources said.
As part of the restructuring, some Credit Suisse bankers will take on larger roles in the combined company, while others will leave the company, the sources said. Some UBS bankers will leave the company due to the restructuring, the sources said.
The restructuring is CEO Sergio Ermotti’s latest move to integrate UBS and Credit Suisse in a process the bank said would be painful and put tens of thousands of jobs at stake.
One of the team leaders discussing a possible exit is Jeff Rose, global head of consumer goods and retail operations at UBS, two of the sources said. Jon Levin, who served as head of retail investment banking at Credit Suisse, is in talks to replace him, the sources added.
Matt Eilers, global head of financial sponsorships at UBS, is also in talks about a possible exit, two of the sources said. According to two sources familiar with the matter, Rob DiGia, UBS’s global head of healthcare, will remain at the bank and is in talks to take on a board-level position.
The sources pointed out that the changes are ongoing and details of the reorganization are still in flux. They asked not to be named before an official announcement. Rose, Levin, Eilers and DiGia did not respond to requests for comment. A UBS spokeswoman declined to comment.
Reuters earlier on Friday reported the reshuffle of one of the teams, UBS’s Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) group. The bank is in talks to appoint Laurence Braham, who joined the Swiss bank from Barclays Plc earlier this year, as global co-head of technology, people familiar with the matter said.
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His co-head would be Christian Lesueur, who was previously the global head of TMT investment banking, the sources added. According to the sources, Steve Pettigrew, fresh out of Bank of America Corp. joined UBS to lead software M&A under Braham. Neil Meyer, who worked alongside Braham at Barclays and followed him to UBS, would lead Lesueur’s media and communications businesses globally, the sources said.
UBS has been trying to regain market share in dealmaking. For the first half of 2023, the company ranked eighth in Refinitiv’s global mergers and acquisitions chart, up from sixth last year. In America, UBS ranked 14th in the first half of the year, up from seventh a year earlier.
UBS’s savings targets, along with tips from insiders and analysts, suggest the company could consider cutting about a third of the combined group’s global workforce, or about 30,000 to 35,000 jobs, Reuters reported on Thursday.
(Reporting by Abigail Summerville, Milana Vinn and David Carnevali in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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