Swiss Finance's Biggest Moves of 2020

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The past year was full of major moves that marked the end of an era – and also demonstrated the sinking threshold of legal risk.

1. Sword of Damocles and Honorable Return

Surely Ralph Hamers didn't envisage his first 100 days at UBS like this: the Swiss bank's new CEO was hit by a revived money laundering in his native Holland. The matter imperils his thus far brief tenure in Switzerland and overshadows a larger digitization agenda.

The bank has publicly backed Hamers, but would be forced to act should matter command too much of his time or result in criminal charges. The case of Georg Wohlwend (pictured below) in neighboring Liechtenstein illustrates just how quickly: the chairman of Liechtensteinischen Landesbank, or LLB, stepped down suddenly last month amid an insider trading probe.

LLB reinstated Wohlwend seven weeks later, when Liechtenstein's prosecutor dropped the probe. His resignation at the mere suspicion of insider trading illustrates a lower threshold for so-called legacy issues for top executives than in the past.

A sword of Damocles hangs over the heads of former Julius Baer top executives as well, after a wide-ranging sanction by home regulator Finma in February. The overseer has been mum on whether it will launch a probe into any individuals like ex-CEOs Boris Collardi, now a partner at Pictet in Geneva, or Bernhard Hodler, who retired last year. Both have seen bonuses or vested awards scotched after Finma's censure.

2. End of Era at UBS and Credit Suisse

Rarely do the CEOs of Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan leave in the same year – but the wealth management equivalent of this happened in 2020. Credit Suisse boss Tidjane Thiam ceded the job in February and long-standing UBS boss Sergio Ermotti left just eight months later.

Credit Suisse overseer Urs Rohner is on his way out, and his counterpart at UBS, Axel Weber, follows next spring. As if this weren’t evidence enough, the exit of Axel Lehman from UBS’ domestic arm after three uneventful years in favor of Sabine Keller-Busse – the first woman entrusted with the job – is emblematic of the changes afoot in Switzerland’s hidebound banking industry.