UBS heavyweight Andrea Orcel is leaving the Swiss bank after six years. The veteran dealmaker is getting his wish to run a European banking giant.

European dealmaker Andrea Orcel is leaving UBS at the end of this month – and heading for Madrid, where he will run Santander, the two banks said in parallel statements on Tuesday.

Orcel, a prolific rainmaker who has run UBS' investment bank since 2012, has never made a secret of his professional ambitions. Two years ago, he unabashedly told an interviewer that «of course» he eventually wanted to run a bank.

Next year, he will begin doing so: Santander is hiring the 55-year-old Italian as CEO from early next year.