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  • Three of the Biggest Asian Cryptocurrency Projects

    Three of the Biggest Asian Cryptocurrency Projects

    As we’re sure you’ve seen, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have become very popular over the past decade, gaining ground in all markets, including Asia. It is for this reason that numerous exciting cryptocurrency and blockchain projects are currently being developed in Asia, having the ability to have a significant impact on a variety of industries.

    Here, we’ll show you three of the most exciting cryptocurrency projects to have come out of Asia in recent years. If these have inspired you and you’re looking to get ahead of the curve when it comes to presales for the next best Asian cryptocurrencies, you can read more here.

    1. NEO

    In case you’re unaware, NEO is a blockchain platform developed in China and was launched in 2014, although it is sometimes known as Antshares, which is its old name. Referred to as the “Chinese Ethereum” by many because of how similar they are, NEO was the first large-scale blockchain project to be released in China. With a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and the ability to support smart contracts, NEO clearly has a lot of potential and should be watched with interest.

    Despite China not having a free market, as we can see in the West, NEO is interesting to investors because it was a strong focus on enterprise adoption. The NEO technology is still being developed, but it already has numerous partnerships with major Chinese businesses. China appears keen to get ahead of the blockchain curve, with attitudes towards cryptocurrencies seeming to soften in Beijing.

    As of June 2023, NEO has a market capitalisation of over $615 billion and a price of around $8.70 per coin.

    2. VeChain

    Like NEO, VeChain is an Asian blockchain project. It was founded in Singapore way back in 2015 and has a strong focus on supply chain and product management, using RFID technology to make the supply chain process more transparent and accountable.

    Unlike many projects that are yet to demonstrate real-world value, no matter how interesting, VeChain has a number of real-world applications that have value. As it stands, VeChain is currently being used by a number of luxury brands to track the authenticity of their products.

    As of June 2023, VeChain has a market capitalisation of over $1.39 billion and a price of around $0.019 per coin.

    3. Conflux

    The newest inclusion on our list, Conflux is another Chinese blockchain project that was launched in 2018, focussing on decentralised applications with high-performance capabilities. Like NEO, Conflux uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, while it also supports smart contracts.

    Having a focus on decentralised applications (dApps), it has a number of key features, including a low transaction cost and the ability to process numerous requests simultaneously. Despite being a high-performance project, it also uses sustainable technology and is energy efficient.

    As of June 2023, Conflux has a market capitalisation of over $612 million and a price of around $0.2 per coin.

    What Does the Future Hold?

    Countless cryptocurrency and blockchain projects are of great interest, with many being developed in Asia. The future for projects coming out of Asia looks bright, with China positioning itself to be a key player in the digital currency market. There’s no way we can predict how the market might move in the future, but by doing your research and watching the market, you’ll always stand a better chance of getting the results you want.

     

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  • HSBC Private Bank Hauls in Staff from Competitors

    HSBC Private Bank Hauls in Staff from Competitors

    HSBC’s Swiss private banking unit is hiring a whole range of new staff from major banks and Geneva-based competitors like Lombard Odier.

    HSBC Private Bank (Switzerland) has been busy recruiting and strengthening its offshore business from Switzerland in the first half of the year, according to a statement on Thursday.

    Juan Antonio Roche is appointed the new head of sales, and Esty Dwek joins as a new investment advisory officer. Roche previously worked at UBS and Santander, while Dwek held senior positions at Geneva-based Flow Bank and Natixis Investment Managers.

    Based in Switzerland, they are part of a newly formed team to drive growth in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (Emea) region.

    HSBC Private Bank expanded its local offshore banking for clients in Asia with new additions including Neil De Sousa, who is promoted to head of the Emea desk for Asia after seven years at the bank. Klara Chan, who had previously worked at Credit Suisse and JP Morgan is appointed senior relationship manager for Asia.

    The HSBC subsidiary was able to recruit Martin Hediger as senior advisor for clients in Switzerland’s domestic market from UBS. The local desk for super-rich Saudis comes under the leadership of Mario Luis Penabad, formerly of Geneva-based private bank Lombard Odier and UBS. Mathieu Brizon joins from Lombard Odier as a senior client advisor.

    Marco Ardigo, formerly with Credit Suisse, takes on the newly created position of heading the business with Italian billionaires. Ten-year HSBC veteran Carl Forsgren becomes responsible for the UHNWI clientele in Northern Europe and international markets.

    The expansion is taking place under the aegis of Gabriel Castello, head of the Swiss private bank since last year, and Emea regional head in the bank’s Global Private Banking division. According to Castello, the recruiting drive underscores the bank’s growth intentions in Switzerland and Emea focusing on super-rich clients and entrepreneurial families.

    The Swiss private bank reported strong asset inflows in the first quarter of the year. In Europe HSBC said it had $153 billion in funds under management from private individuals at the end of last year, making Switzerland stand out as its most important booking center.

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  • Mastercard launches global plan to recycle credit cards

    Mastercard launches global plan to recycle credit cards

    Payments company Mastercard on Wednesday launched a global project to recycle credit and debit cards as part of a plan to save the billions of cards in circulation across the industry from landfill.

    Initially partnering with British lender HSBC Holdings Plc in eight branches in Britain, Mastercard said banks across the world, some of which have launched local initiatives, would be able to join the programme and help build economies of scale.

    “We are inviting all card issuers around the world to partner with us, no matter what region they are in, and offer card recycling to their customers,” said Ajay Bhalla, president of cyber and intelligence at Mastercard.

    Under the plan, Mastercard will provide shredding machines to HSBC, each of which is capable of holding 10,000 cards, equivalent to 50 kg (110 pounds) of plastic. Once full, it will be transferred to a plastic recycling facility.

    Financial details about the plan were not disclosed. The pilot project, which will run for an initial six months, will allow customers to recycle any plastic card, including those from rivals.

    “This recycling pilot will provide us with some very important insight and will inform our longer-term plans,” said Jose Carvalho, head of wealth and personal banking at HSBC UK.

    Initiatives like Mastercard’s recycling programme not only promote sustainability but also offer banks opportunities to boost customer engagement through innovative offerings. For example, CIMB’s credit card promotion rewards users with attractive incentives for optimized card usage. By providing direct cash credit, CIMB’s promotion seamlessly blends financial rewards with responsible consumer behavior, underscoring the need for versatile credit card strategies in today’s market.

    Currently, Mastercard said it has around 3.1 billion cards in circulation. Each year, it estimates around 600 million cards are produced by the industry, each with a life span of around five years.

    The Nilson Report, which analyses the industry, put total cards in circulation at nearly 26 billion in 2022, and forecast that could rise to 28.4 billion by 2027.

    Soaring plastic use has created one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges, with plastic waste buried in landfills or polluting rivers and oceans. The manufacturing process for plastic is also a major source of planet-warming greenhouse gas.

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  • LPBank appoints new CEO

    LPBank appoints new CEO

    Lender LPBank, formerly LienVietPostBank, has named Ho Nam Tien its new CEO.

    Tien, 52, has been with the bank since 2010 and has 30 years of experience in the financial and banking sector, including in senior positions at several companies.

    He replaces Pham Doan Son, who resigned as CEO in March due to personal reasons.

    LPBank is focused on digital transformation in the next five years and has ambitions of becoming the top retail bank in Vietnam.

    LPBank targets a pre-tax profit of VND6 trillion this year, up 11% from 2022.

    The company eyes to increase its capital by VND11 trillion ($468 million), mostly by rights issue.

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  • Avaloq Partners With World’s Largest Asset Manager

    Avaloq Partners With World’s Largest Asset Manager

    Swiss banking software maker Avaloq is partnering with Blackrock. Together, the companies aim to make their services available to private banks and wealth managers.

    According to a joint announcement Wednesday, Avaloq and Blackrock are entering into a strategic partnership. Furthermore, Blackrock has acquired a minority stake in Avaloq. Details of the Deal were not disclosed.

    Under the agreement, Avaloq’s software will dock onto Blackrock’s investment engine Aladdin, with the aim of giving private banks and wealth managers access to comprehensive end-to-end technology and investment solutions, it said.

    Streamline Processes

    Avaloq’s leading core banking is used by institutions with a total of approximately $4 trillion in assets under management and will now be linked to Blackrock’s, Aladdin.

    This partnership will help us empower our clients to streamline processes, enhance risk analytics, and make more informed portfolio decisions, ultimately delivering greater value to their clients, Avaloq’s Co-CEO Martin Greweldinger,  said.

    With the Avaloq partnership, Blackrock will gain access to the core banking IT system which is widely used in Europe and Asia. At the same time Avaloq can benefit from Blackrock’s platform, which collects data from all accessible investments and is used to calculate the risk of around 10 percent of all assets under management in the world. In Switzerland, users include UBS.

    BlackRock and Avaloq joining forces will help clients reduce the complexity and friction inherent in many of today’s digital transformations. Our combined offering will make it extremely convenient for clients to implement and adopt Aladdin Wealth’s industry-leading capabilities as it will be deeply integrated with Avaloq’s core banking solutions, Venu Krishnamurthy, Global Head of Aladdin Wealth Tech, said.

    With the new offering, the two partners want to appeal to both new customers and existing users of Aladdin and the Avaloq software, they said. The joint solution, which will be sourced from the data cloud as a pure «software as a service» offering, is currently being implemented into two of Avaloq’s customers.

    The combined offer also meets Swiss data protection requirements, the statment said, adding that Aladdin Wealth anonymizes the client portfolios that the technology creates on behalf of third parties.

    For Avaloq in particular, the collaboration with the US giant is the first of a new slate of offerings the company is working on under the wing of its parent company NEC.

    Avaloq no longer sees itself as a mere software supplier, but increasingly as a coordinating force that orchestrates emerging digital ecosystems in finance.

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  • UBS Expects to Ink Government Loss Guarantee Tomorrow

    UBS Expects to Ink Government Loss Guarantee Tomorrow

    In a regulatory filing with the SEC, UBS said it expects to wrap up its agreement with the Swiss government over loss guarantees as part of its government-orchestrated takeover of Credit Suisse.

    When UBS agreed to take over troubled Credit Suisse at the behest of the Swiss government, part of the deal was for the federal government to absorb up to nine billion Swiss francs ($9-9 billion) of losses related to Credit Suisse after UBS shouldered the first five billion.

    That agreement, which is one of the final pieces of the puzzle that needs to be completed for the takeover, is expected to be finalized tomorrow.

    UBS Group AG expects that the Loss Protection Agreement will be finalized by June 7, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which will allow it to proceed with the takeover.

    UBS said it expects to complete its formal acquisition of Credit Suisse as soon as June 12, subject to the registration statement being declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and to the satisfaction, or waiver by UBS of remaining closing conditions. The shares will then be delisted on the SIX Swiss and New York Stock exchanges.

    A great deal of complexity surrounds the completion of the deal. So much so that UBS is said to be considering delaying its interim results, according to additional reporting by finews.com.

    Losses over 14 billion francs which were not included in the Special Ordinance making the merger possible, «requires a separate legal basis in the form of a parliamentary approval in the ordinary legislative procedure as well as the commitment credit,» the SEC filing said.

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  • Gold prices increase

    Gold prices increase

    Gold ring price rose 0.18% to VND56.6 million per tael. A tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces.

    Globally gold prices eased on Wednesday, set for a monthly drop, as progress in the U.S. debt ceiling deal and expectations that the Federal Reserve will likely raise interest rates further eroded bullion’s safe-haven status.

    Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,955.28 per ounce, and lost 1.7% so far this month. U.S. gold futures eased 0.2% to $1,954.80.

    An overnight decline in Treasury yields have allowed gold prices to defend its support confluence zone at the $1,940 level for now, but intermittent bounces since early-May have been short-lived, which raises the chances that it could be the same this time round as well, said Yeap Jun Rong, a market analyst at IG.

  • Foreign Bank Expansion Slows in Mainland China

    Foreign Bank Expansion Slows in Mainland China

    The opening of China’s financial sector has hit a speed bump, particularly amongst US banks, due to a changing business environment.

    In 2019, China decided to accelerate the opening of its financial sector with the introduction of various new measures, including the elimination of foreign ownership limits. At the time, mainland China’s financial market had an estimated value of $45 trillion and numerous global banks lauded the opportunity to compete onshore in the world’s second largest economy.

    The environment has changed in less than four years following the nation’s zero-Covid policy and a significant shift in US-China relations. Onshore expansion by global banks is expected to slow down for various reasons.

    US banks are headlining the retreat, primarily due to a dented outlook. Goldman Sachs, for example, reportedly revised projections for its five-year plan in China after the business environment drastically changed with a reduction of more than one-tenth of its workforce in the mainland after doubling its headcount to over 600.

    Morgan Stanley is opting against building an onshore brokerage unit, instead making a smaller investment of about $150 million in its futures and derivatives businesses. On Monday, the bank received regulatory approval to set up its futures unit in China.

    It will be a longer journey than we would wish to build up scale and reputation to do business gradually,» said JPMorgan China chief executive Mark Leung in an interview on the bank’s plans in the mainland

    Elsewhere, foreign bank expansion is being slowed down by structural changes outside of China.

    The combination of UBS and Credit Suisse is expected to create some challenges due to existing exposure in China by both Swiss lenders. Under the current regulations of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, a company cannot be a majority shareholder in more than one securities firm nor hold stakes in over two asset management firms.

    This would require the newly enlarged UBS to offload shares, creating further complications to an already complex integration.

    Nonetheless, not all banks are hit by worsened sentiments or structural hurdles with HSBC being one of the most notable optimists, as part of its broader plans to pivot its global business to Asia.

    The British lender currently owns 49 percent of its asset management joint venture, HSBC Jintrust Fund Management, and has reportedly reached an agreement earlier this month to purchase the remaining 51 percent.

    The bank is also rapidly growing its wealth business onshore with the rollout of various new product capabilities, such as an upgraded legacy planning offering in April. According to chief financial officer Georges Elhedery, HSBC is on track to hire around 2,000 private wealth managers in China’s insurance sector over the next two years, after adding 1,000 in 2022.

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  • UBP Acquires Japanese Asset Manager

    UBP Acquires Japanese Asset Manager

    Swiss-based Union Bancaire Privée has acquired a new asset manager specializing in Japanese small-cap equities.

    According to a statement, UBP has acquired 100 percent of the shares issued by Angel Japan Asset Management (AM). Founded in 2001, Angel Japan AM is a Tokyo-based independent investment advisor specializing in Japanese small-cap equities.

    Hirotaka Usami leads the firm and houses five investment professionals including four portfolio managers with an average experience of 24 years.

    It currently manages three strategies (IPO, new growth and steady growth) with total assets under advisory of $1.2 billion.

    Following the transfer of ownership, Hirotaka Usami will become chairman of Angel Japan AM’s newly created board of directors while current chief operating officer Ryota Bando will be appointed chief executive officer.

    Angel Japan AM’s current employees are expected to remain with the firm.

    Other than the changes to its governance structure and directors, there will be no changes to Angel Japan AM’s current investment process, investment philosophy, investment style and investment team.

    The acquisition follows a successful partnership since 2018 with Angel Japan AM advising UBP’s Japanese small-cap equities strategy and outperforming the relevant benchmark.

    The acquisition of Angel Japan AM underscores UBP’s high conviction on the investment opportunities in the global small-cap equity segment, notably in Japan, and as to the team’s unique ability to seize them, said UBP asset management co-CEO and head of institutional clients Nicolas Faller.

    Taking on the ownership of Angel Japan AM will not only broaden our distribution channels to onshore Japanese clients but will also strengthen our in-house capabilities and value proposition to serve our offshore clients better.

     

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  • Vontobel CEO Plans to Step Down

    Vontobel CEO Plans to Step Down

    After 22 years at Vontobel the CEO of Bank Vontobel plans to retire from his CEO post next year.

    CEO Zeno Staub has asked the board of directors to resign his mandate at next year’s Annual General Meeting in April, Vontobel said in an emailed statement Wednesday. Staub served as the investment company’s CEO for 12 years.

    Staub plans to become more active in Swiss politics and will run as the top candidate for Switzerland’s Center Party «Die Mitte» in the National Council elections in the fall of 2023.

    It is a sign of a strong democracy when citizens such as Zeno Staub, who can look back on a long and successful career in business, want to assume a political role. We wish Zeno Staub every success in his endeavors, Chairman Andreas E.F. Utermann said in the statement.

    However, Staub is not cutting off all ties to Vontobel: After a one-year cooling-off period, he will stand for election as an ordinary member of the board of directors at the general meeting of shareholders 2025.

    Chief Operating Officer Felix Lenhard, is also stepping down at the end of the year, the statement said. Lenhard, who sat on the executive committee of Vontobel Holding and Bank Vontobel, wishes to spend more time with his family.

    Lenhard’s successor will also be determined by year-end.

  • Company fined $37,000 for not disclosing stock market transactions

    Company fined $37,000 for not disclosing stock market transactions

    Thai Son Investment Solutions Jsc has been fined VND870 million (US$37,100) for selling and buying back a stock in October last year without disclosing the information.

    The State Securities Commission of Vietnam announced the fine recently and prohibited the company from trading on the stock market for three months starting May 19.

    Thai Son surreptitiously sold 1.5 million shares of Electricity Investment Service Trade Jsc (EIN) on October 19, 2022, and bought 1.4 million shares three days later.

    The SSC recently placed Tan Viet Securities under restrictions for four months for publishing its unaudited financial statements.

    The company had been fined VND745 million in 2021 and 2022 for multiple stock market violations.

  • BNP Paribas Bags Credit Suisse Specialist Team

    BNP Paribas Bags Credit Suisse Specialist Team

    The revolving door at Credit Suisse keeps spinning, as the Swiss bank loses a team of specialists to BNP Paribas.

    BNP Paribas is strengthening its equities team in London by hiring Credit Suisse’s event-driven team. Susan Stryker Marinello, an event-driven specialist for the EMEA region at the Swiss bank, and risk arbitrage traders Andy Martin and Simon Scott are joining the French bank.

    Before their stint at Credit Suisse, the team of specialists previously worked together at Citi.

    The hiring of the unit is an important step following BNP Paribas’ acquisition of Exane in 2021, the sources added. As part of that acquisition, BNP Paribas brought equity trading, research, and derivatives activities in-house after a 17-year partnership with Exane. It said the new hires are part of BNP’s expansion into cash equities following Exane’s return.

    Neither Credit Suisse nor BNP Paribas had any comment.

  • Techcombank remains on track to hit 2025 targets

    Techcombank remains on track to hit 2025 targets

    Techcombank has set a CASA (current account savings account) target of 55% by 2025 by investing in digitalization and increasing lending to retail customers and SMEs.

    At its recent annual general meeting, CEO Jens Lottner said he was optimistic about the bank’s ability to achieve the targets despite market volatility.

    Lottner said though Vietnam’s economy has recovered, higher borrowing costs, tighter credit and slower GDP growth in the first quarter of 2023 remain challenges.

    The challenges for the banking sector include the high-interest rates, tight liquidity that has pushed up the cost of funds, compressing the net interest margin, and the volatility in the bond and real estate markets.

    Techcombank has entered the third year of its five-year transformation journey, and stuck to its medium-term targets that focus on three pillars: Data, Digital and People.

    According to Lottner, the bank’s digital transformation accelerated significantly in 2022 due to heavy investments in digital technologies.

    In 2022 the lender deployed digital platforms for its retail and business customers, including the Techcombank Mobile and Techcombank Business apps. Around 90% of customer transactions are conducted via the bank’s digital platforms.

    “Techcombank is investing in digitalization to create seamless experiences for customers in both online and offline channels,” Lottner said.

    “This process requires investment, technology capability and integrating various systems and platforms across the bank.”

    “Techcombank is now at an inflection point, and ready to accelerate.”

    The bank is employing artificial intelligence to create human-like interactions with customers over digital platforms, analyze data to understand the needs of individual customers and offer each customer the right products and services throughout their financial lives.

    “The technology application helps reduce the customer acquisition cost while enhancing customer value,” Lottner explained.

    Techcombank has been adding around one million new customers a year and plans to add another 2-3 million by 2023, primarily through digital channels.

    Techcombank plans to allocate more of its credit quota to retail customers and SMEs to diversify its credit book while reducing exposure to the property sector, thus improving risk diversification.

    By increasing lending to retail and SMEcustomers, Techcombank aims to broaden its exposure to growing sectors such as fast-moving consumer goods, auto, utilities, and others.

    But Lottner said this strategy would be flexible and depend on market dynamics.

    As demand returns, the strategic shift to retail and SMEs is expected to resume in the second half of the year.

    Techcombank has set a CASA target of 55% by 2025. Increasing the CASA ratio is the bank’s top priority. In 2022, it had a CASA ratio of 37%.

    Lottner remained optimistic about the real estate and bond markets.

    “As customer confidence returns and interest rates fall, appetite among affluent customers for bonds, stocks and real estate will rise. The need to transact and move money in and out of assets will lead to a shift from term deposit accounts back into CASA.

    “Techcombank is working hard to strengthen its wealth proposition through better products, more experienced relationship managers and advisory processes to ensure its products are ideally suited to the individual risk-return expectations of every customer.”

    Techcombank is strengthening its offerings in transaction banking for SME customers while enhancing its credit underwriting capabilities.

    Techcombank is launching new initiatives to drive the acquisition of account relationships.

    It plans to launch new cash and liquidity management and treasury management services on the corporate banking side. For merchants, the bank is preparing to launch a series of new offerings in the coming months while it is also releasing a host of new digital features and functionalities to drive online retail customer engagement, as well as new rewards and loyalty platforms.

    “I am confident that we should be able to go to 55% CASA ratio if we continue to follow our strategy,” Lottner said.

    In 2023 Techcombank continues to invest in digital transformation and transition to the cloud to meet customers’ evolving needs.

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  • Standard Chartered cuts Vietnam growth forecast to 6.5%

    Standard Chartered cuts Vietnam growth forecast to 6.5%

    Standard Chartered has reduced Vietnam’s GDP growth forecast for this year by 0.7 percentage points to 6.5%.

    In a release Thursday the British bank said it amended the forecast it had made in January of 7.2% growth after considering external factors more carefully with Vietnam’s macro indicators slowing down in the last four months.

    Exports have declined by 11.8% year-on-year, and the trade surplus is US$6.4 billion. Inflation for April was 2.8%, the third consecutive month of decline, though core inflation – not including food and energy prices — was 4.6% as retail sales jumped by 11.5%.

    FDI fell by 17.9% to $8.9 billion. Imports decreased by 15.4% year-on-year.

    “Vietnam imports a lot, so import indicators going down considerably shows that economic activity is slowing down despite strong domestic consumption”, Tim Leelahaphan, the bank’s economist for Thailand and Vietnam, said.

    Many other international financial institutions have also adjusted their Vietnam growth forecasts downward.

    The IMF has reduced it from 6.2% to 5.8%, the World Bank from 6.7% to 6.3%, and the ADB from 6.7% to 6.5%.

    Vietnam’s economic growth this year is likely to be constrained by the global economic downturn, monetary tightening in developed countries, rising commodity prices, and geopolitical issues.

    The government targets 6.5% growth, but there are challenges ahead with the GDP only growing by an annualized 3.32% in the first quarter.

    Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung expressed concern about growth at a recent meeting, saying to achieve the target the economy needs to grow at 6.7%, 7.5% and 7.9% in the next three quarters.

    Standard Chartered predicted that the State Bank of Vietnam would reduce the refinancing rate by 0.5 percentage points to 5% by the end of the second quarter and maintain that rate until the end of 2025.

    But it did not rule a hike in rates, especially towards the end of the year, due to the possibility of the central bank focusing more on stability than growth.

    “Since the start of 2023 the SBV has turned to supporting the economy’s recovery,” Leelahaphan said.

    “Besides cutting interest rates, it also helped struggling businesses by giving them more time to deal with illiquidity.”

    Since April loan terms have become easier, with banks rolling over debts for up to 12 months and cutting interest rates.

    But the real estate market needs more support, with all measures taken until now only helping relieve short-term loan repayment pressure, he added.

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  • UBS Announces its Game Plan and Leadership Team

    UBS Announces its Game Plan and Leadership Team

    The legal integration of UBS and Credit Suisse will close in the next few weeks. The team to manage the new venture has also been announced. Ulrich Koerner resurfaces.

    Following UBS’s government-imposed takeover of Credit Suisse on March 19, there has been much speculation about who would lead the new entity and what it would look like. UBS Group AG will manage the two parent companies of UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG, each with its subsidiaries and branches, to serve its clients and deal with counterparties, according to a statement from UBS Tuesday.

    Overall responsibility falls to the UBS Group board of directors and the UBS executive board. Until the two entities integrate further, Credit Suisse will rely on its established governance and risk control frameworks, with some new policies added so that UBS can effectively oversee it.

    This is a pivotal moment for UBS, Credit Suisse, and the entire banking industry. Together we will solidify and represent the Swiss model for finance worldwide, one that is capital-light, less reliant on taking risks, and anchored by stability and high-touch service. This transaction will allow us to offer attractive returns to our shareholders and give us the capacity to further invest and grow, said UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti.

    The overall structure will comprise five business divisions, encompassing seven functions and four regions, with each represented by an executive board member of the group, all reporting to Ermotti. In addition, Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Koerner becomes a member of the UBS Group’s executive board. The new divisions are as follows:

    • Iqbal Khan remains President of Global Wealth Management
    • Rob Karofsky remains President Investment Bank
    • Sabine Keller-Busse remains President of Personal & Corporate Banking and President of Switzerland
    • Suni Harford remains President of Asset Management and Lead for Sustainability & Impact
    • Beatriz Martin Jimenez becomes Head Non-Core and Legacy and President EMEA. She remains UBS’s Chief Executive for the UK and continues in her role as Group Treasurer until a successor is named.

    As previously announced, UBS will continue to evaluate all options for the Swiss business of Credit Suisse, which is considered the crown jewel of  Credit Suisse. It will «communicate further on this matter in the coming months,» according to the statement.

    Within the functional structure, UBS announced that Sarah Youngwood will be departing.

    • Todd Tuckner is appointed Group Chief Financial Officer. He will become a member of the Group Executive Board with immediate effect and take on the role of CFO at the close of the acquisition. He will succeed Sarah Youngwood, who has decided to leave the firm after the transaction closes.
    • Michelle Bereaux will be Group Integration Officer. She has spent nearly 23 years at UBS and has held various leadership roles across the firm.
    • Mike Dargan will be Group Chief Operations and Technology Officer
    • Stefan Seiler will be the Group Head of Human Resources and Corporate Services.
    • Christian Bluhm will remain Group Chief Risk Officer
    • Barbara Levi will remain Group General Counsel
    • Markus Ronner will remain Group Chief Compliance and Governance Officer

    Tuckner, Martin Jimenez, Bereaux and Seiler also become members of the executive board at the close of the transaction.

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