A recent UBS leadership appointment at the very top of the bank continues to provoke internal resentment.
There is likely a tug-of-war going on at Switzerland's largest bank. The ostensible trigger is the current group chief financial officer Sarah Youngwood (pictured below). As finews.asia previously reported in September, she has been under criticism for a while now and questions are increasingly circulating about her competence.
That fact weighs even more heavily now after it has become common knowledge inside UBS that her application had been rejected by the board of directors several times, as finews.asia has learned. When asked, a spokesperson for the bank said: «That claim is entirely false.»
Valid Internal Candidates
UBS Chief Financial Officer Sarah Youngwood (Image: UBS)
Despite that, finews.com stands by its original position given it is aware that certain members of management had favored an internal solution for the position. Importantly, two valid candidates from inside the bank had applied for the position to succeed Kirt Gardners. Both of them are known to the editorial team of finews.asia.
According to internal sources, it appears that the US-French dual citizen Youngwood got the top job in the finance department because of the backing of CEO Ralph Hamers.
Continued Resentment
Apparently, he managed to push through his external candidate given the strength of his position to the dissatisfaction of a number of board members and even some top executives. A UBS spokesperson refuted the claims and indicated: «These rumors have no basis in fact.»
There continues to be resentment at the highest levels of UBS to this day given Youngwood's appointment in May 2022. At the same time, Hamers finds himself in an increasingly precarious position, even if UBS officially continues to deny this. From the point of view of certain top executives, doubts have arisen about Hamers related to all this.
Relationship in Question
UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher (Image: Keystone)
That looks to increasingly test the relationship between UBS chairman Colm Kelleher (pictured above) and CEO Hamers even if the bank's media relations team denies this, as they point to various public statements on the matter. Kelleher, for example, was cited telling the «Financial Times» (article behind paywall) in November: «We actually get on phenomenally well. We are very complementary. Banking isn’t about personality; it is about fit.»
Just this past weekend, Kelleher praised the fact that both of them worked together harmoniously, while also indicating that was «practically impossible to get a two-page summary about anything» at UBS internally.
That doesn't speak for the organization that Hamers is operationally responsible for. It also can be taken as a dig against the CEO.
Very Bureaucratic
On the other hand, Hamers himself has already stated that UBS is bureaucratic and that he has started numerous initiatives to make it more agile. In all of that, it is quite apparent, however, that none of them have reached the chairman.
