Ulrich Koerner may lack charisma but he is a hands-on banker. His appointment as the newly designated head of Credit Suisse at UBS under Sergio Ermotti comes with a certain irony.
The former auditor (PwC) and strategy consultant (McKinsey) with a doctorate in economics from the University of St. Gallen was passed over twice for the CEO role at UBS and Credit Suisse before being appointed CEO at Credit Suisse last year.
Koerner worked at Credit Suisse from 1998 to 2008. When he lost out to Brady Dougan for the CEO role there, he moved on to UBS. As UBS's Chief Operating Officer, he kept an eye on costs and oversaw 25,000 employees.
Then in 2011, after being unwilling to act as UBS’ interim CEO, Koerner took over Credit Suisse’s crisis-ridden asset management division. Sergio Ermotti subsequently became interim CEO at UBS moving on to become the bank’s actual CEO later on.
Turnaround Specialist
In 2022, Koerner was finally named CEO of Credit Suisse Group, before the bank collapsed in March this year.
Koerner didn’t make himself known for his communication skills during this period, but it has to be said that previous executives and board directors were the ones who had committed the capital miscalculations, not him. Koerner’s ability to restructure Credit Suisse was often questioned, as was his ability to provide a vision or strategy for the bank.
In the past, he did prove himself successful in returning Switzerland's second-largest bank to profitability as Oswald Grueblel’s «turnaround specialist.» Now, he again takes on the role of the «right-hand man» for somebody else. As he proved under Gruebel, this is the kind of thing he is likely to succeed at.
