UBS Taps Former Commerzbank Chief Martin Blessing
May 11 2016 - 10:10AM
Dow Jones News
ZURICH—UBS Group AG on Wednesday said it has appointed former
Commerzbank AG Chief Executive Martin Blessing as head of its Swiss
operations.
UBS said Mr. Blessing would succeed Lukas Gaehwiler on the
Zurich-based bank's executive board in September, and serve as
president of UBS Switzerland.
Mr. Blessing recently left Commerzbank amid a difficult period
for Germany's second-largest lender, which earlier this month
reported a sharp fall in first-quarter profit and warned that its
outlook for the remainder of the year was uncertain.
Mr. Blessing "significantly shaped" Commerzbank during his
tenure there, UBS said, adding that he led the bank "back to
stability" following the financial crisis.
Mr. Gaehwiler, whose remit includes all of UBS's retail,
private, and corporate banking in Switzerland, will assume the new
role as chairman of the region Switzerland, UBS said. After more
than six years running UBS's domestic operations, Mr. Gaehwiler
requested the change, the bank said.
UBS's Personal & Corporate Banking unit, which includes the
bank's private and corporate clients in Switzerland, earlier this
month reported a 7% fall in pretax operating profit for the first
quarter, compared with the same period last year, as operating
income fell 2%. However, the unit's personal-banking business
enjoyed its strongest growth rate in the period since early 2012,
UBS said.
Write to John Letzing at john.letzing@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 11, 2016 09:55 ET (13:55 GMT)
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