Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Körner joins UBS board. The latter bank took over Credit Suisse at the insistence of the Swiss government to prevent bankruptcy. Körner must ensure that Credit Suisse’s day-to-day operations continue to run smoothly during the merger with UBS.
Körner knows both banks, as he was also the operational director of UBS in the past. That bank also announced another change at the top. Todd Tuckner takes over as Chief Financial Officer. He replaces Sarah Youngwood.
Earlier, Sergio Ermotti, who was top executive of UBS from 2011 to 2020, returned as the bank’s top executive. He thus replaced the Dutchman Ralph Hamers. UBS bought Credit Suisse in March for 3 billion Swiss francs (about 3.1 billion euros) and took on 5 billion francs in losses from that bank. In addition, the Swiss government provided tens of billions of francs in aid to prevent a major blow to the country’s banking sector.
After the merger, UBS and Credit Suisse are expected to continue to exist as two separate banks for a long time to come. The integration of Credit Suisse into UBS is very complex. The two banks are also still exploring options for Credit Suisse’s Swiss operations, which may be placed at a distance. After the takeover by UBS, the two banks control the vast majority of the Swiss market and that can cause competition problems.
