Following the merger of UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG, which takes place on 31 May 2024, UBS has made several changes to its group executive board (GEB), which are mostly subject to final regulatory approval and effective 1 July 2024.
Iqbal Khan will become president UBS Asia-Pacific, effective 1 September 2024, and become co-president of global wealth management (GWM). He will relocate to Asia later this summer, and this is the first time that a divisional president will be based in Asia-Pacific.
Khan replaces Edmund Koh, who will step-down from the GEB effective 1 September 2024. He will remain at UBS as regional chair Asia-Pacific, continuing to support the bank’s clients and businesses in the region.
Rob Karofsky will become president UBS Americas and co-president GWM after having led the UBS Investment Bank as co-president since 2018 and as president since 2021.
Khan and Karofsky will jointly manage GWM across all regions to ensure a global offering for UBS’s wealth management client franchise, according to a statement by the bank.
Meanwhile, George Athanasopoulos and Marco Valla will join the GEB as co-presidents of the investment bank. Athanasopoulos joined UBS in 2010 and held various senior roles across the investment bank including head global markets since 2020. In addition, he has been head global family and institutional wealth since 2022 where he has leveraged the key strengths across UBS’s investment banking and wealth management capabilities.
Valla, who joined the firm in 2023 as co-head of global banking, has held increasingly senior managerial roles and advised on approximately 300 completed transactions across various industries.
Damian Vogel will be appointed group chief risk officer and become a member of the GEB, succeeding Christian Bluhm, who agreed to delay his retirement last year to support the firm in the first phase of the integration.
Since joining UBS in 2010, Vogel has held various risk-related leadership roles across GWM, personal & corporate banking and region Switzerland before being appointed chief risk officer for Credit Suisse and group risk control head of integration in 2023. Bluhm will remain with the firm in an advisory capacity.
Other changes include Stefan Seiler, head group human resources and corporate services, who will expand his responsibility to include group communications and branding led by Marsha Askins, who will newly report into him.
Ulrich Körner, CEO of Credit Suisse AG, will step down from the GEB at the end of June following the merger of the parent banks UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG. He will retire from UBS later this year.
Finally, Naureen Hassan, regional president UBS Americas, has decided to retire from UBS, effective 1 July 2024.
“The appointments to the Group Executive Board we are announcing today will allow us to continue to progress on our integration journey and realize the expected synergies and efficiencies, while putting even more emphasis on our long-term priorities and growth prospects, particularly in the Americas and Asia-Pacific,” said UBS Group CEO Sergio P. Ermotti, in a statement.
