Swiss bank UBS on July 1, named former Bundesbank president Axel Weber as its next chairman in a surprise move that robbed rival Deutsche Bank of a top candidate to succeed its chief Josef Ackermann in 2013.
Weber shocked the European financial establishment by announcing in February he would quit his role as Bundesbank chief, leaving Berlin without a candidate to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet as president of the European Central Bank an institution Weber felt was straying too far from its inflation-fighting mandate.
He is likely to take a more prominent role at UBS than current chairman Kaspar Villiger, a former Swiss finance minister who was coaxed out of retirement to help restore market confidence in the bank after it suffered the worst annual loss in Swiss corporate history during the financial crisis.
"Villiger was always seen as a temporary solution to help UBS get through the crisis and Axel Weber's clearly got more of a connected network into the international banking industry," said Cheuvreux banking analyst Christian Stark.
UBS's smooth succession planning contrasts with the difficulties seen at its German rival Deutsche where Ackermann, chairman of the executive board, extended his contract for four years in 2009 after the bank failed to find a successor.
"We think this is a smart move," Florian Esterer, senior portfolio manager at Swisscanto, which manages 57.6 billion francs in assets and holds UBS shares worth more than $180 million, said of Weber's nomination to the chairmanship.
The UBS move is a coup for the Swiss bank and for Weber - a man who has never been afraid to ruffle feathers.
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