UBS Group Taps Outsider as New CEO

In the Americas, UBS has about 6,550 FAs, down from some 6,850 a year ago. They work with about $1.4 trillion in assets, have average AUM of $214 million, and produce yearly fees and commissions of $1.4 million on average. 

'Surprise' Hiring

"The appointment is definitely a surprise," Rahul Sen, global leader of wealth management and private banking at Boyden Executive Search, told Bloomberg. 

"What we have seen of ING over the past 10 years — the way they've come back to profitability is by reducing costs," Sen explained. 

Due to the large fine ING paid during his tenure, Hamers was paid about $2.2 million annually in recent years, Bloomberg reported, vs. about $9 million to $14 million for Ermotti.

Hamers was tapped for the CEO slot at UBS over internal leaders such as COO Sabine Keller-Busse and Iqbal Khan, who heads wealth management along with Tom Naratil.

Khan was hired in October from Credit Suisse, which hired an investigative firm to follow him and now accuses him of serious misconduct in connection with a confrontation with then-Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam.