UBS' outgoing investment banking head Andrea Orcel frequently overwhelms those around him with his hyperkinetic ways, but is nevertheless successful. How?
When Sergio Ermotti recruited his former colleague Andrea Orcel to UBS' investment bank six years ago, the Swiss bank CEO knew that he could rely on one of Europe's most successful rainmakers. But it took more than Orcel's dealmaking acumen to enforce one of the biggest restructuring pushes in UBS' recent history: close ties from Merrill Lynch, where both men previously worked, cemented the partnership.
Since then, the bank has gone from the chaos of reinventing itself as well as several scandals including Libor rigging to the boredom that Ermotti praises as a virtue. Against this backdrop, the energetic and ambitious Orcel was increasingly navigating UBS' investment bank within the tight boundaries set out by the bank's focus on wealth management.
«Of Course» Wanted CEO Job
Orcel has never made a secret of his professional ambitions. Two years ago, he unabashedly told the «Financial Times» (behind paywall) that «of course» he eventually wanted to run a bank. He doubled down on the decidedly un-Swiss show of ambition by saying that «If I could be CEO of any bank in the world UBS would be a good place to start.»
His wish is coming true – just in a slightly different form than expressed back in 2016 – thanks to long-standing ties. Orcel advised Emilio Botín, the patriarch of Spanish finance giant Santander who died in 2014, and his family for more than 20 years. Ana Botín, who took over the bank after her father's death, also relied heavily on Orcel as a close adviser, according to the «Financial Times» (behind paywall).
Demanding Boss
As at UBS, Orcel is likely to leverage his personal ties and bonds of trust in developing Santander's strategy. Not all staff at the Spanish bank will appreciate him: Orcel is a talented client man and hard-driving boss. At UBS, he had required some bankers to conduct at least 300 client meetings annually – a metric his investment bankers were measured on.
To be sure, Orcel isn't asking anything of staff that he doesn't practice himself: he has been known to hold calls at 5 a.m. In order to withstand the grueling regimen, he swears by espresso (he is Italian) and exercise. The muscly and always-dapper banker jogs, lifts weights, and water-skis.
The banker also admitted to having improved his work-life balance by shifting his workload after his young daughter was born: «Realistically, there is plenty of time to catch up on anything I might miss afterwards!,» he told a UBS publication last year.
