Geneva-based Union Bancaire Privée has signed a prominent name in Swiss banking. The ex-UBS executive will join Adrian Kuenzi at UBP's Zurich offices, according to information obtained by finews.com.
UBP appointed Urs Zeltner as senior managing director, according to a statement on Monday. Zeltner, previously vice chairman of wealth management Europe at UBS, started on September 1.
Zeltner will report to Adrian Kuenzi, the CEO of UBP Zurich since the beginning of the year. Kuenzi previously worked for Notenstein La Roche but struggled to establish the private bank as a strong independent brand in Switzerland.
UBP has about 25 billion Swiss francs in assets under management in Zurich and employs some 220 members of staff.
Strong Reputation
Zeltner enjoyed a strong reputation within UBS. He is the older brother of Juerg Zeltner, who led wealth management at Switzerland’s largest bank until the end of 2017, before leaving when the divisions were merged.
Urs Zeltner’s boss at wealth management Europe used to be Jakob Stott, a vice chairman wealth management himself. In July, Stott decided to retire. He was known as Juerg Zeltner’s man, who used to be in charge of the European wealth management before taking on a more representative role.
Expensive Vice Chairmen
Since UBS merged its global wealth management, a number of high-ranking bankers left the company, mainly those of course who had been left out in the new organization.
Zeltner had led the offshore business with German private clients. In 2014, the bank was forced to pay a fine of 300 million euros in Germany as many of those clients didn’t conform with German tax laws. Zeltner had left the position in 2011.
UBS is forced to cut costs because of the merger. The fact that some vice chairmen, such as Urs Zeltner, are now leaving, is part of the bigger picture. They tend to earn significant salaries without strong day-to-day management duties.
